
Class '^ T.ZO 

Book. .\ H^ &1 



Gpightm 



COFVRIGHT DEPOSm 



25 CENTS. 



Nathan Hale,!,'?^. •* 




riartyr opy. 



NATHAN HALE MONUMENT, NEW YORK 



'no 



With Incidents of the Devolution, 

BY CHARLES W. BROWN. 



New York: 

J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

57 Rose Street. 



SECOND COPY, 
1699. 







BIRTHPLACE OF NATHAN HALE, 



NATHAN HALE 

THE MARTYR SPY. 

An Incident of the Revolution. 

BY 

CHARLES W. BROWN. 



•' I wish to be useful. If the exigencies of my country 
demand a peculiar service, its claims to the perform- 
ance of that service are imperious." — Nathan Hale. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



THE SUNNYSIDE SERIES. No. 107. July, 1899. Issued Quarterly. 

$1.00 per year. Entered at New York Post-Office as second-class matter^ 

(Copyright 1899, by J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company.) 



NEW YORK : 

J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

57 Rose Street. 



38.717. 



kVa COPIES R£CulV&D. 





^rO^n^"^ 



TO 

THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS 

OF THE 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. paok 

Interview of Captain Daniel Thurston Wandell 7 

CHAPTER II. 
''Possessing Genius, Taste and Order, He Became 
Distinguished as a Scholar " 16 

CHAPTER III. 

"Let Us Organize and Drill as We March, and 
Never Lay Down Our Arms Until We Have 
Gained Our Independence " 28 

CHAPTER IV. 
"I Will Undertake It " /46) 

CHAPTER V. "^ 

"He Fitted All the Requirements Contained in 
Washington's CaU for a Volunteer " 66 

CHAPTER VI. 
"I Regret that I Have But One Poor Life to Lose - 
for My Country" / 8 



CHAPTER VII. 
" Ye Come with Hearts that Oft Have Glowed at 
His Soul-Stirring Tale, to Wreath the Deathless 
Evergreen Around the Name of Hale " 103 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Conclusion — Eulogiums. 123 

Henry J Raymond 130 

Benson J. Lossing 132 

Chauncy M. Depew , 126 

Washington Irving 133 

Henry Cabot Lodge 135 

Isaac Hinton Brown 137 



NATHAN HALE, 

THE MARTYR SPY. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

In the fall of 1868 there appeared in a 
Newark, New Jersey, paper the following 
interview reminiscent of the scenes and 
incidents of the stirring days of Wash- 
ington. The author has taken the liberty 
to expunge all that does not relate to the 
Revolution and the two most dramatic 
incidents that occurred during the for- 
mative period of American independence. 
In addition there have been merged into 
one account parts of an earlier interview, 
extracts from private papers, and 
additional memoranda. Rutin this nar- 
ration the author reproduces the thought 
and style of Captain Daniel Thurston 
Wandell, his maternal great grandfather: 



**I was born at New burg, Orange 
County, New York, the 22d day of Octo- 
ber, 1770, and am to-day ninety-eight 
years of age. My father served seven 
years during the Kevolution in Colonel 
Malcomb's Second New York Artillery. 
From 1794 to 1828 my business was on 
the water, most of the time as captain of 
a coasting sloop. I was employed by 
the government in 1812 to transport 
am-munition and troops on the waters 
about New York, Baltimore and Phil- 
adelphia. 

**I recollect well the scenes connected 
with the capture, the execution and the 
burial of Major John Andre, eighty-eight 
years ago the 2d of the present month on 
Mabie's farm at Tappan. Yes, I have a 
faint recollection of the execution of 
Nathan Hale also, though I was but six 
years old at the time. He was hung in 
New York City, which was sixty miles 
down the Hudson from where I was 



THE MARTYR SPY. 9 

then living. On the day following the 
evacuation of New York by the British I 
went down to New York with my father. 
This was on the 26th of November, 1783, 
seven years after the execution of Cap- 
tain Hale. My father took me out to 
the old Beekman homestead, which was 
General Howe's headquarters during the 
greater period of the occupation of the 
city by the British, but was then, as it 
had been for the past six months, occu- 
pied by General Carleton. From there 
we went over to Colonel Rutger's 
orchard, which we found crowded with 
patriotic and loyal citizens desirous of 
paying their respects to the memory of 
Captain Nathan Hale. For seven years 
the city was occupied by the British 
army and no one was permitted to enter 
without the necessary papers, or under a 
flag of truce, and then only under escort. 
This being the first day following the 
evacuation, many thousands flocked to 



10 

New York to see the changes that had 
taken place since the city was destroyed 
by fire the night preceding Hale's execu- 
tion, and I presume three-fourths of the 
people that came to New York that day 
saw the tree on which Captain Hale died 
the year of the Declaration. 

**The orchard had been well kept by 
the British, for it was in full bearing in the 
summer of 1783. I was given two apples 
by one of Colonel Rutger's slaves, which 
he said had grown on the tree on which 
Captain Hale was hung. The old darky 
was a witness to the execution, and with 
a cane he carried, touched the limb from 
which he said the rope was suspended. 
I was thirteen years old at the time ; con- 
sequently I have a vivid recollection of 
the orchard, the tree, the limb, and in 
my mind I can picture the exact spot 
where the body of Nathan Hale now 
rests, for he was buried but a few feet 
from the tree on which he died. After 



THE MARTYR SPY. H 

the lapse of eighty-five years, and the 
marvelous growth of the city, I would 
be unable to locate the grave nearer than 
to say that it was in the vicinity of the 
present northwest corner of Pike and 
Monroe streets. 

"The importance of Captain Hale's 
mission among the British, and his cap- 
ture and execution caused great sorrow 
and indignation everywhere. But speak- 
mg of Andre, whose execution at the 
hands of the Americans occurred four 
years after Hale's death: he was im- 
prisoned in the old Dutch Church in 
the village of Tappan which was half in 
New York and half in New Jersey. The 
gallows was erected about a quarter of a 
mile from the church. Andre, at his 
own request, walked to the gallows, being 
escorted by a few hundred Pennsylvania 
troops, his coffin at the time being taken 
in a cart. The gallows stood about two 
hundred yards from the main road, and 



12 NATHAN HALE 



within a few feet of a white oak tree, 
under which the remains were buried. 
Being familiar with the execution and 
burial of Andre, having witnessed both, 
I was called upon and tendered fifty dol- 
lars by the authorized agents of the Brit- 
ish government to point out the grave, as 
they proposed, they said, to disinter the 
remains and remove them to England. It 
is needless for me to say that I refused 
their offer, though the amount was after- 
ward raised to one hundred dollars. The 
grave was fenced in with a rail fence, as 
the remainder of the field was cultivated. 
I planted and hoed corn in the adjoining 
field in my younger days, and had as- 
sisted in putting in the crop that was 
ripening at the time Andre was hung. 

*'Itwas about this time that I first saw 
the great Washington reviewing the 
Pennsylvania troops stationed at this 
place (Tappan). General Washington 
reviewed these troops by walking up and 



THE MARTYR SPY. 13 

down the line, hat in hand and alone. 
His hair was powdered. His vest was of 
buff cloth and he wore knee breeches 
with white-top boots. His coat was dark 
blue with yellow fringe and lace trim- 
mings, and he wore ruffles. I removed 
to Baltimore in 1788, and while living 
there I frequently saw Washington and 
Lady Washington ride by in their chaise. 
In 1792 I had the honor of voting for 
General Washington for president, and 
have voted at every presidential election 
since. Should my life be spared to vote 
for General Grant, my first and last votes 
will be for two great captains— Washing- 
ton and Grant. 

*'Daniel Thukston Wandell." 

For more than half a century Captain 
Wandell was one of Newark's most 
highly esteemd citizens, and though he 
has been dead a quarter of a century, he 
lived long enough to realize his desire to 



14 

vote for President Grant and in doing so 
the period of his life overlapped the gen- 
erations from Nathan Hale to the pres- 
ent. His vivid recollections of the stir- 
ring days of the Eevolution and the con- 
structive period that followed; his in- 
tense patriotism and loyalty to **01d 
Glory," which was born June 14, 1777, 
have given inspiration in the prepa- 
ration of this work. It has been a source 
of both pleasure and profit to refer to 
him as well as to many other published 
and written incidents of the Revolution 
coming under the observation of one in 
whom the author placed implicit confi- 
dence as to truth and accuracy. He re- 
grets exceedingly that Captain Wandell 
did not speak further concerning the 
capture and excution of Nathan Hale, 
now that he is about to send forth a 
brief story of the martyr. 

Our ancestral struggle for freedom — 
freedom of speech, of thought, of action. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 15 

and form of government, is worthy of our 
highest consideration, and this attempt 
to perpetuate the devotion of one of the 
martyrs of the republic is sent forth 
with the earnest hope that it may do 
something toward emphasizing the im- 
portance of the cause for which our na- 
tional heroes yielded up their lives. 
May it be read sympathetically, with 
charity for its defects, with appreciation 
of whatever excellence it may possess. 

The reader is left to peruse the follow- 
ing chapters with a perfect assurance 
that along with fiction there is combined 
history, with its four integral parts — 
romance, annal, biography and memoir. 
Charles W. Brown. 

Chicago, July 1, 1899. 



16 



CHAPTER II. 

"possessing genius, taste and oeder, he 
became distinguished as a scholar." 

Twenty-two miles east of Hartford, 
Connecticut, in the picturesque County of 
Toland, the traveler is shown a pleasant 
dwelling, which he is told was erected 
more than a century and a half ago. 
Through the long lapse of time the foun- 
dation alone has remained intact; repairs 
and the remodeling necessary to render 
the old dwelling habitable have left little 
of the original house to be seen to-day. 
The general style of colonial architec- 
ture and the air of refinement, still to be 
seen all through the New England coun- 
try, gives the old house and its surround- 
ings an appearance of thrift and comfort 



THE MARTYR SPY. 17 

which must have prevailed there in other 
days. 

This was the Hale homestead. It 
stood upon a pleasant elevation, pic- 
turesque almost beyond description, and 
surrounded by a primeval forest of 
oak and walnut. A low stone wall, 
completely covered with ivy, Virginia 
creeper and wild rose, inclosed the 
roomy dwelling and its ample lawns, 
gardens and orchard — a typical New 
England home, an abode of peace, con- 
tentment, security and faith. 

Stretching away in all directions, the 
quiet forests, wrapped in a mantle of 
fresh color, with here and there fields of 
waving corn and fragrant buckwheat, 
which relieved the sameness of the 
wooded uplands, rejoiced with all nature 
that this spot and this hour would be 
made memorable in the annals of our 
country. COn the 6th of June, 1755, the 
surrounding landscape must have pre- 



18 NATHAN HALE, 

sented a more beautiful aspect than ever 
before. Let us believe that God smiled 
approvingly upon the young babe that 
came to Richard and Elizabeth Hale on 
that bright morning so long ago, for they 
were godly people and revered the Bible 
*'as the voice of God and the observance of 
the Sabbath as a binding obligation, and 
family worship and grace before meals 
as imperative duties and precious obliga- 
tions." 

Early in life Richard Hale, the father 
of Nathan, had come from Newberry, 
Massachusetts, and settled near Coventry 
in the county of Toland. Here he mar- 
ried Elizabeth Strong, who we are told 
was a charming maiden of some eighteen 
years, and who had been brought up in 
the strictest Puritan faith. To them 
were born twelve children, the sixth 
being a boy whose young life was at 
times despaired of, and there was little 
promise of his surviving the period of in- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 19 

fancy; but with tender motherly care 
and a skillful family physician, he finally 
struggled through to his second year, 
when he began to develop, mentally and 
physically, into a robust youth. 

When yet a mere child he was fond of 
outdoor sports. He was a fine marks- 
man, was fond of fishing in summer and 
skating in winter, and was the swiftest 
runner and best jumper in Toland County. 
We are told that it was his delight to 
place a number of sugar hogsheads, as 
many as twelve, in a line and with ap- 
parent ease spring from one into the 
other, and so on through them all with- 
out resting or touching his hands to the 
barrels. Many other stories of his skill 
as an athlete could be related, but it is 
sufficient to say that whether in sport or 
work he was always first among his 
comrades. 

Inheriting from his parents a strict 
sense of religious obligation after the 



20 

manner of Puritan faith, he likewise in- 
herited a thirst and aptitude for knowl- 
edge. His early piety, and the desire of 
his father to have at least one of his sons 
enter the ministry, suggested the wisdom 
of preparing Nathan for this profession. 
The pastor of the parish church where 
he had been christened, Dr. Huntington, 
one of the most learned and eminent 
Congregational divines and scholars of 
his time, undertook the pleasant and 
profitable task of directing his studies 
and religious training. We know with 
perfect assurance that Nathan proved 
an apt and obedient pupil, for at the 
youthful age of sixteen years and two 
months he passed the entrance examina- 
tion to Yale College, being one of the 
youngest students if not the very young- 
est that ever entered that famous college. 
There were but sixty students at Yale 
the winter of 1771 when Nathan entered, 
but when he graduated with the highest 



THE MARTYR SPY, 21 

honors of his class in September, 1773, 
there were eighty-four. The thorough- 
ness of Dr. Huntington's teaching and 
the excellence of Hale's scholarship dis- 
played all through his stay at Yale, was 
apparent from the fact that accompany- 
ing his certificate of graduation was a 
statement from each of his teachers, 
among them one from Dr. Timothy 
Dwight, who was afterward .president of 
Yale College, that Nathan Hale was not 
only the youngest but one of the very 
best students that ever graduated from 
Yale College, as shown by the class 
records. This must have been very en- 
couraging as well as gratifying to the 
young student, for it was just two years 
and eighteen days from the time of his 
entrance until his graduation at the 
head of his class— a record that perhaps 
has never since been equalled at that 
great university. 
In addition to his brilliancy of Intel- 



22 NATHAN HALE, 

lect, magnificent physique and skill as an 
athlete, he was one of the most popular 
students that had ever attended Yale 
College. He was loved and respected by 
all the students and tutors alike, and 
though averse to giving much of his 
time while he was at college to social 
affairs, still his great popularity and 
aflPable disposition made his presence 
desirable at every social gathering, and 
he was always a welcome guest at the 
homes of the best families in New Haven. 
Dr. Lossing tells us that in 1848 he 
visited New Haven and stopped at the 
home of the venerable Eneas Munson, 
M.D., who had been a surgeon in the War 
of Independence. Dr. Munson knew 
Hale well during the latter period of his 
life at Yale College, for he was a fre- 
quent visitor at the home of Dr. Mun- 
son's father. ''I was greatly im- 
pressed," said Dr. Munson, *'with Hale's 
scientific knowledge, evinced during his 



THE MARTYR SPY. 23 

conversation with my father. I am sure 
he was the equal of Andre in solid ac- 
quirements, and his taste for art and 
talents as an artist were quite remark- 
able. His personal appearance was as 
notable. He was almost six feet in 
height, perfectly proportioned, and in fig- 
ure and deportment he was the most 
manly man I ever met. His chest was 
broad, his muscles were firm; his face 
wore a most benign expression; his com- 
plexion was roseate; his hair was soft 
and light brown in color, while his 
speech was rather low, sweet and musi- 
cal. His personal beauty and grace of 
manner were most charming. Why, all 
the girls in New Haven fell in love with 
him and wept bitterly when they heard 
of his sad fate. In dress he was always 
neat; he was quick to lend a helping 
hand to a being in distress — brute or 
human; was always overflowing with 



24 

good humor and was the idol of all of his 
acquaintances." 

This account of the appearance of 
Nathan Hale by one who knew him per- 
sonally is the only authentic one extant. 
From this graphic description it has been 
possible to produce his image in stone, 
on canvas and in bronze. No picture is 
in existence, and so far as has been as- 
certained, but one was ever taken, and 
this was lost shortly after the death of 
its owner. The illustrations usually 
given and the ones used in this book, to- 
gether with the busts and statues erected 
to his memory, were drawn from the de- 
scription given by Dr. Munson, the style 
of dress and the manner of wearing the 
hair being peculiar to the period in which 
he lived. 

Dr. Jared Sparks, who knew several of 
Nathan's intimate friends, among whom 
was Alice Adams to whom Nathan was 
engaged, said of him: ''Possessing genius. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 25 

taste and order, he became distinguished 
as a scholar; endowed in an eminent de- 
gree with those graces and gifts of naiiure 
which add a charm to youthful excel- 
lence, he gained universal esteem and 
confidence. To high moral worth and 
irreproachable character were joined 
gentleness of manner, an ingenuous dis- 
position and vigor of understanding. 
No young man of his years put forth a 
fairer promise of future usefulness and 
celebrity; the fortunes of none were 
fostered more sincerely by the generous 
good wishes of his associates and the 
hopes and the encouraging presages of 
his superiors." 

While at Yale College, Nathan Hale 
was instrumental in founding the Lino- 
nian Society, becoming its first presi- 
dent. At its anniversary in 1853 Mr. 
Francis M. Finch read the following 
beautiful lines in allusion to the martyr: 



26 NATHAN HALE, 

*'To drumbeat and heartbeat, 

A soldier inarches by; 
There is color in his cheek. 

There is courage in his eye, 
Yet to drumbeat and heartbeat 

In a moment he must die. 

**By starlight and moonlight 
He seeks the Briton's camp; 

He hears the rustling flag 
And the armed sentry's tramp; 

And the starlight and moonlight 
His silent wanderings' lamp. 

*' With slow tread and still tread 
He scans the tented line; 

And counts the battery guns 
By the gaunt and shadowy pine; 

And his slow tread and still tread 
Gives no warning sign. 

**With calm brow, steady brow, 
He listens to his doom. 
In his look there is no fear 



THE MARTYR SPY. %7 

Nor a shadow trace of gloom ; 
But with calm brow and steady brow, 
He robes him for the tomb. 

**In the long night, the still night. 

He kneels upon the sod ; 
And the brutal guards withhold 

E'en the solemn Word of God ! 
In the long night, the still night, 

He walks where Christ hath trod. 

'' 'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

He dies upon the tree; 
And mourns that he can lose 

But one life for Liberty ; 
And the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit wings are free. 

'*From Fame leaf and Angel leaf 

From monument and urn, 
The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 

His tragic fate shall learn; 
And on Fame leaf and Angel leaf 

The name of HALE shall burn!" 



'^8 



CHAPTER III. 



LET US ORGANIZE AND DRILL AS WE MARCH, 
AND NEVER LAY DOWN OUR ARMS UNTIL 
WE HAVE OBTAINED OUR INDEPENDENCE." 



East Haddam, Connecticut, stands on 
the left bank of the Connecticut River 
just below the mouth of the Salmon in 
the County of Middlesex. Here came 
Nathan Hale to teach his first school the 
winter following his graduation from Yale 
College. This was a *' select" or private 
school, for there were no public schools 
in those days. East Haddam was then 
a place of some importance and consid- 
erable wealth, and it is not surprising 
that he should have had *' nearly thirty 
pupils of all ages, half bemg Latiners," 
as he wrote in his diary. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 29 

His ability and talents as a school- 
master attracted wide attention, and be- 
fore the close of the first year he re- 
ceived many calls to take charge of 
schools in various parts of Connecticut; 
one coming from Newberry, Massachu- 
setts, where his father was born; but 
the one that suited him best, per- 
haps because it was the home of Alice 
Adams, was New London. The proprie- 
tors of the Union Grammar School of 
that place offered him the preceptorship 
of their school, which Hale accepted in 
the following language: 

** Gentlemen: 

*'I am pleased to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of your letter which came by recent 
post, and will not delay longer in coming 
to a decision as to which school I will 
keep next term. I will agree to abide by 
your agreement and terms, and will go 
to New London within a fortnight to 
make plans for the conduct of the 
school. Nathan Hale.*' 



30 NATHAN HALE, 

The Union Grammar ISchoolwas an in- 
stitution of high grade for that period ; 
it was designed by its proprietors to 
afford facilities for a thoroughly English 
education and the classical preparation 
necessary for entering college. Having 
but recently graduated from Yale, it was 
a wise choice in selecting young Hale to 
become its first teacher in its widened 
scope, and at the same time it was a high 
compliment to Hale's ability for one so 
young and with but one year's experi- 
ence as a teacher. When he accepted 
the appointment in April, 1774, he was 
barely nineteen years of age. **No one 
could teach in this school," says an early 
chronicler, "but those whose character 
would bear the strictest scrutiny, and 
where Latin, English, writing and arith- 
metic were taught, and where the salary 
was seventy pounds ($350) a year, with 
the privilege of teaching private classes 
out of the regular school hours." 



THE MARTYR SPY. 31 

In a letter to his friend, Roger Alden, 
a classmate at Yale and afterward an ad- 
jutant in the Continental army. Hale 
wrote concerning his school at New Lon- 
don: 

•*New London, May 2, 1774 
**I am at present in a school in New 
London. I think my situation somewhat 
preferable to what it was last winter. 
My school is by no means difficult to 
take care of—it consists of about thirty 
scholars, ten of whom are Latiners, and 
all but one of the rest are writers. I 
have a very convenient schoolhouse, and 
the people are kind and sociable. I 
promise myself some more satisfaction 
in writing and receiving letters from you 
than I have as yet had. 

** Nathan Hale." 

Colonel Samuel Green, of Hartford, 
Connecticut, who died in 1862, was one 
of Hale's pupils at the grammar school, 
and a short time before his death he 
said : * * Nathan Hale was a man.peculiarly 



32 NATHAN HALE, 

engaging in his manners — these were 
mild and genteel. The scholars, old and 
young, were attached to him. They 
loved him for his tact and amiability. 
He was wholly without severity, and had 
a wonderful control over boys." This 
testimony agrees with many others, so it 
is not to be wondered at that men would 
follow wherever he led, whether on the 
march or on one of his thrilling exploits. 

Hale was much given to throwing his 
thoughts into rhyme, and more espe- 
cially while teaching at New London, for 
his life in the army was too active to in- 
dulge in such peaceful moods. He had 
one friend— William Tallmage— a class- 
mate at Yale, whom we shall read of in 
a subsequent chapter as one of the cap- 
tors of Andr6, to whom Hale wrote regu- 
larly, not infrequently resorting to 
rhyme as the* 'only way of expressing 
one's thoughts in tenderest emotion." 

His life at New London was indeed a 




UNION GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NEW LONDON, CONN., WHERE 
NATHAN HALE TAUaHT. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 33 

busy one. An entry in his diary pre- 
served in the parish church at Coventry, 
reads: '*A man ought never to lose a 
moment's time; if he put off a thing from 
one minute to the next, his reluctance is 
but increased." Every body in and about 
New London became attached to him. 
For a year his life was an uneventful one; 
he pursued his studies, taught his daily 
classes, conducted a class of young men 
and young women in Bibl^ study on Sun- 
day, and continued his social visitations 
with scrupulous regularity. His life was 
not such a busy one, however, but that 
he found time for the little romances of 
life. While teaching the Union Gram- 
mar School he had for one of his pupils 
Alice Adams, a bright, intelligent girl of 
sixteen years, said by some authorities 
to have been his stepsister and by others 
an adopted sister. She was a native of 
Canterbury, Connecticut, and was distin- 
guished for her beauty and refinement. 



34 NATHAN HALE, 

An attachment sprang up between 
them which resulted in an engagement, 
the fulfillment of which depended upon 
the fortunes of war. **As soon as our 
beloved country is free from accursed 
British rule and the last redcoat has 
been driven from our shores, I will return 
to keep my promise." Thus spoke 
Nathan to Alice when he had fully made 
up his mind to enlist in the Continental 
army. In subsequent pages we shall read 
of her devotion and the part she played 
in this thrilling life-drama enacted so 
long ago. 

The war trumpet had not yet sounded, 
though preparations had been in prog- 
ress for many months. Old guns and 
pistols, swords and knives, were put in 
readiness to be used upon an instant's 
notice. Hunting was neglected for the 
drill and target practice. Even business 
was neglected, for in the shops and on the 
street corners, wherever men gathered, 



THE MARTYR SPY. 36 

the sole topic of conversation was **war, 
cruel, relentless war, as the only means 
of obtaining our independence." At the 
grammar school, Hale formed the boys 
into a company which he drilled during 
intermissions and on Saturdays, using a 
written copy of the **manual of arms," 
obtained from his father who had copied 
it years before from an old British man- 
ual, owned by a relative in Newberry, 
Massachusetts. No attempt was made 
to conceal this warlike spirit among the 
boys of New London; in fact it was be- 
coming epidemic, and it was not long 
until the contagion spread throughout 
the colonies. Even the old men, and the 
boys and girls, too young to realize its 
meaning, watched the maneuvers of the 
grammar school boys on the village 
green with pride and satisfaction. 

There were no railroads, steamboats, 
telegraphs or telephones in those days, 
and it was some time before news from 



36 NATHAN HALE, 

New York or Boston reached the interior 
towns and even those along the Sound. 
Everybody knew, though, that the Brit- 
ish were landing on our shores, and mass- 
ing troops in Canada, New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia; but aside from putting 
down local disturbances in a few of the 
coast cities, and the warlike prepara- 
tions such as displayed at the grammar 
school, there was little to foretell the 
long and bloody War of Independence, 
**the eight years' struggle," that was 
soon to involve the two and three-quar- 
ters million Americans and make every 
boy a man and every man a patriot, 
until late in the afternoon of April 21, 
1775, when a messenger, riding from 
Boston to New York, stopped at New 
London long enough to tfill of the won- 
derful ride of Paul Revere and the fights 
at Lexington and Concord. 

The news created great excitement in 
the village, and as the story spread from 



THE MARTYR SPY. 37 

house to house throughout the surround- 
ing country, men and boys rushed to the 
village to learn the truth of the report 
and to offer their services— their lives if 
necessary — to avenge the slaughter of 
their countrymen. Long before night 
the streets were filled with a crowd of 
angry yet determined men. Just at sun- 
set the doors of the courthouse were 
thrown open and in a few moments the 
building was filled with patriotic citi- 
zens, all anxious to give expression to 
their feelings, and to enroll their names, 
pledging their lives in the defense of 
their country. Patriotic speeches were 
made by nearly a score of citizens, and 
among them the voice of Nathan Hale, 
the master of the grammar school, rang 
through the open windows, out over the 
heads of the gathering crowds and across 
the blue waters of the Thames River. 
With impassioned language and intense 
earnestness he exhorted the people of 



38 NATHAN HALE, 

New London to take action at once. 
''Let us organize and drill as we march, 
and never lay down our arms until ive 
have obtained our independence,'' said 
Hale; and the appeal was not in vain. 
This is said to have been the first public 
demand for American independence made 
at the beginning of the great and final 
struggle. 

A company was immediately formed 
with the name of Nathan Hale second on 
the roll. The next morning when the 
scholars assembled, he told them of his 
resolve, his hopes and his ambitions; he 
prayed with them, gave them each good 
advice, bade them all an affectionate 
farewell, and with his company marched 
away to Cambridge (Boston). By some 
it has been thought that a letter from 
Alice Adams brought him back to New 
London in May ; but whatever the cause 
that called him home, it is a fact that in 
July we find him a lieutenant in a regi- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 39 

ment commanded by Colonel Charles 
Webb— ** raised by order of the General 
Assembly for home defense, or if neces- 
sary, for the protection of the country 
at large." 

With Nathan Hale honor was every- 
thing. Truth and honesty were the twin 
spirits that directed his every thought 
and action. Immediately after being ap- 
pointed lieutenant he addressed the fol- 
lowing letter to the proprietors of the 
grammar school: 

** Gentlemen: Having received infor- 
mation that a place is allotted me in the 
army, and being inclined, as 1 hope, for 
good reasons, to accept it, I am con- 
strained to ask as a favor that which 
scarce anything else would have induced 
me to, which is, to be excused from keep- 
ing your school any longer. The year 
for which I engaged will expire within a 
fortnight, so that my quitting a few days 
sooner, I hope, will subject you to no 
great inconvenience. Nathan Hale. 

"New London, Friday, 37th April, 1775." 



4 NATHAN HALE, 

The company to which Lieutenant 
Hale was attached was under the imme- 
diate command of Major John Latimer, 
and was to be *' subject to the orders of 
the Connecticut Council of Safety." 
Boston was the objective point of the 
British ; first, owing to its proximity to 
Canada, Nova Scotia and other British 
outposts; and, secondly, because of its 
comparatively isolated position from the 
center of population, which was then 
south and west of New York City. 
Home defense was not deemed as essen- 
tial as the defense of the coast cities and 
more especially where the enemy was 
likely to make its first attack; so, acting 
under orders from Washington, the com- 
mander-in-chief of the American army, 
Colonel Webb's regiment marched away 
to Boston late in September, 1775. After 
a long and desperate struggle, lasting 
from early autumn until late the follow- 
ing spring, the British and a host of Tories 



!« CONGRESS 

Tfc« Otue«*'t> of Ih* Uaited Colonies o» ftm-tiitnfPttrtx MaJ^a£b»ftat-B(vf. Rhode- tjtani. Ctnsxitinu^ 
fftv-Tork, Xt%i Jer/o- ^e/ffi/xAxi^A- <heCoyn<ies of tf&wnf.ii. Kent, an^ SH^n on DfiatvOrt. Ala^ 

^JKT 6' repoflng efpecal bu ft •«<!<»« Od«nofio your patMOcifm, valour, condud «ftcl fla«(ity. O 
ttfte pr*feri»confMut< and «ppolr»iyou lo he <r^,^X*f>w /A ^* ^^^it^^ZfelS^ 

^^^K^^^y^-^ ^5^».^*.^.;»:?^:^ ^ ^r&>^^ if^^^^^^ ^^^^^ 

nth« trmyof theUntu^ Cotcmia r»if«d for tfc* rtctrnc* cl^An^^ricsn Lih«fy en<l 'p.r_r?pcHln4 f«ery 
ftoMe fr>vaf>oi» thereof Youere lheiifT»rt»car<huII/ trA <Jir.gentfy t8<lifchefge ihediity of l^^^^^icX 

' by doing «nd pe»fo»ming aJI cmwietcir thjftgj thereunto betongmg /\nd «k« do ftfiflly 

Otar^ «rd f«^uir« all of&Kn u<A foldicn ur^er >«vr command, to b« obotieni to /our cmerv • 
K.,^^yy^^2^ft/ *-«. And yOtt. •« td cbfcrvcandfollavW fucti OrilirsanddireAionjffcm 
t«n»# •» ^m» as yoo (hal) fee«it« f»om tM> or a fulunt Congrefo of the United CoIonicSi ot Commtltet of 
Congr«(» f»T iNst fUTpofe appomfedL o» Comm»txlerinChierfb''theun)ebelngof che armyoftheUfttt^J 
CefoMCX c» ony ©ih«r yo^r (upcr-or ofbcer. •ceorrfiog to the rulCJatiddifci^Iineof war. In pv/tfWafiWof the 
fturt repofeJ m y<»<k Tha eon<m>nion (o cDnnnue in (oncff until Kvoke«! by ih(» or a futuns Congrttt 



COPY OF NATHAN HALE'S COMMISSION AS CAPTAIN. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 41 

were driven out of Boston, taking refuge 
in Halifax. For bravery displayed in 
this siege Lieutenant Hale was commis- 
sioned captain by Congress, January 1, 
1776. 

So earnest and unselfish was Captain 
Hale's patriotism that when in Decem- 
ber, 1775, a number of the men in his 
company, whose term of service had ex- 
pired or was about to expire, determined 
to return home, he appealed to their pa- 
triotism, and their loyalty to their com- 
rades whose term of enlistment was not 
half up ; finally he offered to divide every 
dollar he possessed, including the 
month's pay he had not yet received, if 
they would remain until spring. Success- 
ful in this endeavor as in everything else 
he undertook, his patriotic utterances 
moved many to re-enlist. Thus to Nathan 
Hale is due much credit for the early ex- 
pulsion of the British from Boston, for he 
strengthened the patriot cause in their 



42 NATHAN HALE 



own hearts, among their own people, and 
won new and powerful allies across the 
sea. Had the men whose terms of serv- 
ice were expiring not been urged, even 
bribed, by one in whom they had im- 
plicit confidence, there would have been 
such a wholesale desertion that the Brit- 
ish would have observed the demoralized 
and disorganized condition in the Amer- 
ican camp and the siege would have been 
maintained until reinforcements arrived 
and the patriot army would have been 
forced to retire in disgrace. 

It was here that Washington became 
acquainted with Captain Hale and noticed 
his fitness to command or undertake any 
perilous mission intrusted to him. It 
was on Washington's recommendation to 
Congress that Hale was promoted to a 
captaincy, and later on we shall see how 
Hale repaid his commander at a 
time when such service as he volunteered 
to perform could apparently save the 



THE MARTYR SPY. 43 

army and the cause for which he staked 
his life. 

The following beautiful lines by Will- 
iam Cullen Bryant were written while 
the poet was in contemplation of the sac- 
rifice and patriotic devotion of the early 
martyrs to the cause of freedom. The 
character of men like Nathan Hale, if 
not actually the man himself, undoubt- 
edly moved the great poet to pen these 
verses in memory of the martyrs of the 
Revolution: 

SEVENTY- SIX. 

What heroes from the woodland sprung, 
When through the fresh-awakened 
land 
The thrilling cry of freedom rung. 
And to the work of warfare strung, 
The yeoman's iron hand! 

Hills flung the cry to hills around, 
And ocean mart replied to mart, 



44 NATHAN HALE, 

And streams, whose springs were yet 

unfound 
Pealed far away the startling sound, 
Into the forest's heart. 

Then marched the brave from rocky 
steep, 
From mountain river swift and cold ; 
The borders of the stormy deep. 
The vales where gathered waters sleep, 
Sent up the strong and bold. 

As if the very earth again 

Grew quick with God's creating breath, 
And from the sods of grove and glen, 
Kose ranks of lion-hearted men 

To battle to the death. 

The wife whose babe first smiled that day. 

The fair fond bride of yester eve, . 
And aged sire and matron gray. 
Saw the loved warriors haste away. 
And deemed it sin to grieve. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 45 

Already had the strife begun ; 

Already blood on Concord's plain, 
Along the springing grass had run ; 
And blood had flowed at Lexington, 

Like brooks of April rain. 

That death stain on the vernal sward, 
Hallowed to freedom all the shore; 
In fragments fell the yoke abhorred — 
The footsteps of a foreign lord 
Profaned the soil no more. 



46 NATHAN HALE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

**I WILL UNDERTAKE IT ! — THE SOLDIER 
SHOULD NEVER CONSULT HIS FEARS 
WHEN DUTY CALLS." 

After the expulsion of the British 
from Boston, and their return from Nova 
Scotia, where they had been reinforced 
by six shiploads of hired Hessians, New 
York became the objective point of at- 
tack. In order to protect Boston it was 
necessary to maintain a large army 
there, which Howe well reasoned would 
lessen the American forces at New 
York; then the city could by a com- 
bined attack on land and water easily be 
taken. The population of New York 
at this time was between twenty- 
one and twenty -two thousand, some 



THE MARTYR SPY. 47 

smaller than Boston, but less than half 
the size of Philadelphia which remained 
the largest city in America until 1820. 
The commanding situation and compara- 
tively open harbor and the immense grain 
and provision trade made the occupa- 
tion of this city greatly to be desired by 
Lord Howe. In proportion to its popu- 
lation, no other city in the colonies con- 
tained so many British sympathizers as 
New York. Lord Howe knew this and 
he brought the combined strength of his 
army and navy to drive Washington from 
his seemingly well-fortified position. 

In April, 1776, Captain Hale's regi- 
ment, under General Heath, reached 
New York by the way of Norwich, 
Connecticut, where it had been ordered 
by Washington to aid him in the defense 
of that city. At Norwich, Captain Hale 
left his regiment temporarily to organize 
a company of Connecticut Bangers, a 
corps composed of picked men from the 



48 NATHAN HALE, 

diflferent Connecticut regiments to be 
placed under the command of Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Thomas Knowlton, who had 
distinguished himself in the battle of 
Bunker (Breed's) Hill. This company 
of rangers was known as ** Congress' 
Own." The following month (May) Cap- 
tain Hale made his way to New York to 
rejoin his regiment under General Heath. 
He had no sooner reached New York 
than he performed a daring feat, that 
made his name known to every soldier in 
the Continental army. 

A British sloop, laden with provisions, 
a small amount of ammunition and about 
thirty stand of arms, was anchored in the 
East River under the protection of the 
guns of the British man-of-war, Asia. 
General Heath gave Hale permission to 
attempt the capture of the supply vessel. 
With a few picked men, probably from 
Glover's brigade, who were chiefly sea- 
men, and as resolute as himself, he pro- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 



49 



eeeded in a whaleboat silently at mid- 
night to the side of the sloop, unob- 
served by the sentinel on deck. Hale 
and his men sprang on board, secured 
the sentinel, confined the crew below 
the hatches, raised her anchor and took 
her into Coenties Slip just at the dawn of 
day (April 20, 1776). Captain, Hale was 
at the helm. The victors were greeted 
with loud huzzas from a score of voices 
when the sloop touched the wharf. The 
provisions were distributed among Hale's 
hungry fellow -soldiers, while the sloop, 
ammunition and guns went to the gen- 
eral supply depot. 

The success of the undertaking was 
commended by Washington, for it not 
only added to their scanty supply of pro- 
visions, arms, etc., but gave them nearly 
a score of prisoners to exchange for an 
even number of their men captured in the 
attack upon Boston. This was but one 
of more than a dozen exploits m which 



50 

Hale participated during the spring and 
summer of 1776. He was successful in 
each and had received the thanks of his 
commanding officer, the praises of his 
fellow-soldiers and promotion by a 
special act of Congress at the request 
of Washington. 

There was much to be done in the 
vicinity of New York that year. Wash- 
ington, with Generals Sullivan, Putnam 
and Stirling, had been busy for months 
planning the Long Island campaign 
which resulted so disastrously to the 
Americans. At midnight on August 28th 
a heavy fog rose over New York bay and 
hid the armies from each other. It con- 
tinued throughout the entire day and 
night that followed. On the evening of 
the 29th the army silently yet quickly 
commenced embarking from the point 
now occupied by the Fulton Ferry. The 
boats moved noiselessly with muffled 
oars, and in the course of six hours and 



THE MARTYR SPY. 51 

a half, the whole army, with their bag- 
gage and munitions, the artillery alone 
excepted, crossed in safety to New York. 
Washington had remained until the last 
company had embarked. He had not 
slept for forty-eight hours, so great was 
his anxiety to save his men and add to 
their comfort in every way possible. 

Secure of his prey, Howe had no sus- 
picion of what was going on under cover 
of one of the blackest fogs that ever set- 
tled over New York bay. Many times 
during the long struggle the patriot army 
had cause to believe that their destiny 
was in the keeping of Providence, but no- 
where does it appear more convincing 
than on the day and night of August 
29, 1776. With three times the num- 
ber of men, and every man well drilled 
and well equipped, well clothed and well 
fed, and having just been victorious in one 
of the best-planned battles of the war, we 
do not wonder at the surprise of General 



52 NATHAN HALE, 

Howe when he awoke on the morning of 
August 30th to find that his victory on 
Long Island had not been as complete as 
he thought it was on the morning of the 
27th. 

The British army was then thirty 
thousand strong and lay in intrenched 
detachments along the shores of New 
York Bay and the East Kiver, from the 
present Greenwood Cemetery to Flush- 
ing and beyond. The soldiers were 
veterans and were flushed with recent 
victories on Long Island. They were 
commanded by able officers and sup- 
ported by a powerful naval force of half 
a hundred vessels. The entire army 
was well equipped with stores, artillery 
and all munitions necessary for main- 
taning a long siege or for resisting a sud- 
den attack on land or water. 

On the other hand the American army 
was in a demoralized and most perilous 
condition. The soldiers were in a far 



THE MARTYR SPY. 53 

worse condition than they were the win- 
ter before. Their clothing was in rags 
and they clamored in vain for pay, for 
blankets, and for satisfying food. One- 
third of the army, which numbered less 
than eleven thousand men, were without 
tents ; one-fourth of them were on the 
sick roll, and the few well ones were half- 
starved and in rags. These were some 
of the conditions our forefathers had to 
face in their struggle for liberty, that we, 
their descendants, might reap the reward 
their lives so dearly purchased. 

About this time Lord Howe was in- 
structed by the British government to 
**receive the submission of all rebels who 
would throw themselves on the king's 
mercy." To this Washington replied, 
*'The Americans are simply defending 
their rights, and having committed no 
faults, they need no pardon." Hav- 
ing failed in this offer Howe supple- 
mented it by offering bounties to those 



54 

who would desert the '* rebel cause." 
There can be little doubt that many of 
the faint-hearted and skeptical ones did 
take advantage of Howe's oifer, either to 
desert, or to enter the British lines to 
keep from starving, for it is a matter of 
history that soldiers deserted by com- 
panies and even by regiments. The army 
was fearfully demoralized and seemed 
hourly on the point of dissolution, when 
Washington called a council of war, Sep- 
tember 7th, to consider the important 
questions, '*What shall be done?" 
"Shall we defend or abandon New 
York?" 

After a long and exhaustive argu- 
ment, lasting far into the night, it was 
decided to defend the city at all haz- 
ards. Congress had urged that *'care 
be taken that no damage be done to the 
city," and they determined to defend it 
at the cost of their lives. 

Washington had taken up his head- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 55 

quarters at the home of Eobert Murray 
on Murray Hill, not far from the present 
site of the Grand Central station, New 
York. The British ships passed up and 
down both sides of Manhattan Island; 
scouts sent out by Washington reported 
great activity among the British every- 
where, but they could not penetrate 
nor even reasonably conjecture their de- 
signs in this naval display or movements 
of troops across both rivers. It was of 
the utmost importance to know some- 
thing of the enemy's real intentions and 
thus anticipate their movements in order 
to compensate for lack of numbers 
and munitions. Becoming desperate, 
Washington wrote to General Heath, 
then stationed at Kingsbridge, a few 
miles above the city: *'As everything, in 
a manner, depends upon obtaining intel- 
ligence of the enemy's movements, I do 
most earnestly entreat you and General 
Clinton to exert yourselves to accomplish 



;. i, 56 NATHAN HALE, 

this most desirable end. Leave no stone 
unturned, nor do not stick at expense to 
bring this to pass, as I was never more 
uneas}^ than on account of my want of 
knowledge on this score. Keep constant 
lookout with good glasses on some com- 
manding heights t|at look well on the 
other shore." 

In his perplexity and desperate frame 
of mind, Washington called another 
council of war that same night (Septem- 
ber 12th). He told his officers that he 
could not procure the least information 
concerning the intentions of the enemy, 
and asked the usual questions of late: 
^•What shall be done?" *' What can be 
done?" 

Finally the. council resolved to call 
for some one to votoriteer to go into 
the British camps on Long Island 
and procure if possible the information 
so eagerly sought by W^ashington. It 
needed one skilled in military and 



THE MARTYR SPY. 57 

scientific knowledge; a good draughts- 
man, one with quick eye, unflinching 
courage and cool head; a man on 
whose judgment and fidelity implicit re- 
liance might be placed ; one with tact, 
caution and great sagacity. Was there 
in all the American army a man who 
possessed half of these requisites? 
Washington sent for Lieutenant- Colonel 
Knowlton, to whom he made known his 
wishes, and asked him to seek for a 
trustful man for this service either in his 
own regiment or in any other in the 
army. **Some one," said Washington, 
**must penetrate the British camp and 
lift this veil of secrecy, or the American 
army is lost," and he did not hesitate to 
communicate this opinion to his board 
of officers. 

Summoning a number of officers to a 
conference at his headquarters, the next 
day (September 14th) in the name of 
Washington— the commander-in-chief of 



58 NATHAN HALE, 



the American army, Colonel Knowlton 
called for a volunteer for the important 
service. The officers were surprised and 
did not hesitate to express themselves in 
strong language at the very thought of 
asking one of their number to descend to 
the level of a common spy, even to ac- 
complish so important a task as called 
for by Washington. Colonel Knowlton 
again pointed out to them the dire neces- 
sity of securing this important informa- 
tion; **for," said he, **not only the lives 
and fortunes of the entire army are at 
stake, but our mothers, our wives and 
our children at home will fall a prey to 
the desperate and licentious creatures 
who mainly make up the British army in 
America." 

It must have been a thought of home 
and of her whom he had chosen to 
be his wife when this bitter strife was 
over, that led Nathan Hale, pale and 
weak from the effects of a recent illness 



THE MARTYR SPY. 



brought on by exposure and the lack of 
proper food, to arise and in a slow, but 
determined voice to say: 

''I will undertake it! The soldier should 
never consult his fears when duty calls/' 

Mr. Stuart says that to appreciate the 
position of Captain Hale it is necessary 
to dwell a moment upon it. His was a 
mission, that of a spy, not only hazard- 
ous, but also ignominious. In the judg- 
ment of every civilized nation, in the eye 
of all national law, the use of spies is 
deemed *'a clandestine practice and a de- 
ceit in war." It is a fraud unworthy of 
an open, manly enemy— scarcely re- 
deemed in motive by any exigency of 
danger — and pregnant with the worst mis- 
chief in stimulating, from a fear of be- 
trayal, the vengeance of a foe, and in un- 
dermining those sentiments of honor, 
which, like gleams of sunlight upon a 
thunder-clouded sky, tend to soften the 
blackness of war. 



60 

The spy is the companion of darkness. 
He lurks — or if he moves in the light, it 
is behind walls, in the shadow of trees, 
in the loneliness of cliffs, under the 
cover of hills, in the gloom of ditches, 
skulking with the owl, the lynx, or the 
Indian. Or if he enters the camp of an 
enemy, he insinuates himself and winds 
treacherously into confidence. If caught, 
the certain penalty is death on the gal- 
lows. When Hale arose, the gossip of 
the indignant ofiicers ceased. 

Astonishment was manifest on all 
sides, and while a few did not hesitate to 
appeal to Hale to retract his bold and 
reckless proffer, the majority of those 
present knew his determined nature too 
well to think it advisable to offer a pro- 
test. They all knew Hale intimately. 
They loved him, for he had a gentle dis- 
position, a kind heart, and yet he was 
the bravest among his fellows. Captain 
William Hull, a member of Colonel 



THE MARTYR SPY. 61 

Knowlton's staff, and Hale's most inti- 
mate friend in the army, and who after- 
ward became a general in the War of 
1812, used all the persuasive power at 
his command to dissuade him from his 
rash and suicidal resolve. In reply, not 
to lay aside the dignified and honorably 
earned title and office of captain for that 
of a common spy, Hale replied in tones 
that grow louder as the years roll on : 

'* Every kind of service necessary for 
the public good becomes honorable by 
being necessary." 

Then turning to all those assembled, 
and with no more show of impatience or 
excitability than he displayed in debates 
at college, he said: *'Gentlemen, I think I 
owe to my country the accomplishment 
of an object so important and so much 
desired by the commander-in-chief of 
her armies, and I know of no mode of ob- 
taining the information than by assum- 
ing a disguise and passing into the ene- 



/ 

I 



62 NATHAN HALE, 

my's camp. I am fully sensible of the 
consequences of discovery and capture in 
such a situation. But for a year I have 
been attached to the army, and have not 
rendered any material service, while re- 
ceiving a compensation for which I make 
no return. Yet I am not influenced by 
any expectation of promotion or pecu- 
niary reward. Itvish to be useful; every 
kind of service for the public good becomes 
honorable by being necessary. If the exigen- 
cies of my country demand a pecular service, 
its claims to the performance of that service 
are imperious,'' 

To further justify his act in the eyes 
of his parents and those near and dear to 
him, he penned these brief lines to his 
father on the eve of his departure for 
Long Island: *'A sense of duty urges me 
to sacrifice everything for my country. 
I am about to undertake a perilous mis- 
sion into the enemy's country at the be- 
hest of my general. I leave to-night, 



THE MARTYR SPY. 63 

perhaps to return, perhaps not." Well 
he knew the dangers of the undertaking 
and the fate in store for him should he 
be captured in territory held by the 
enemy. 

Notwithstanding all the aversion, par- 
ticularly of soldiers, to all those who dis- 
guisedly enter a military camp to bear 
off its secrets to an enemy, and the in- 
stantaneousness with which such per- 
sons pass from capture to the gallows 
— as a last resort its employment is urged 
and is not judged unworthy a great com- 
mander. The exigency of the American 
cause would not permit the employment 
in so important an undertaking of one 
not skilled as a draughtsman, unprac- 
ticed in military observation, and least 
of all a common mercenary, allured by 
the hope of a large reward. Accurate 
measurements, estimates of the number 
of the enemy, their distribution, the form 
and position of their various encamp- 



64 NATHAN HALE, 

ments, the unguarded whispers in camp 
of officers or men, could not be trusted to, 
much less accomplished by, the common 
soldier. Hence, when the most intelli- 
gent, most methodical, most painstaking 
scholar, soldier and patriot in the Amer- 
ican army offered himself to be sent on 
so perilous a mission, his acceptance by 
Washington, who knew him both as a 
man and a soldier, was instantaneous ; 
so says an early writer. 

Further effort on the part of his com- 
panions to dissuade him from the under- 
taking was abandoned, and, accompanied 
by Colonel Knowlton and Captain Hull, 
Hale appeared before General Washing- 
ton at two o'clock the same afternoon to 
receive in detail the instructions con- 
cerning his dangerous, though vitally 
important mission. In addition to the 
general order from Washington to ** ad- 
mit Captain Nathan Hale without pass- 
word or countersign to all friendly 



THE MARTYR SPY. 65 

camps," he also carried an order from 
Colonel Knowlton requesting all owners 
of American vessels to convey him to any 
point on Long Island, or anywhere else, 
that Hale might designate. 

Leaving the camp on Harlem Heights 
at eight o'clock on the night of Septem- 
ber 15th, Hale was accompanied by his 
trusted friends, Asher Wright and Ser- 
geant Stephen Hempstead, members of 
his own company, who sought permission 
of Colonel Knowlton to accompany him 
as far as it was deemed advisable. With 
prayers and wishes for his safe re- 
turn. Hale left his companions and 
friends and passed out into a night 
wrapped in an impenetrable fog. 



66 



CHAPTER V. 

**HE FITTED ALL THE EEQUIREMENTS CON- 
TAINED IN Washington's call for a 

VOLUNTEER.'* 

In assuming the character of a school- 
master seeking employment as a loyal- 
ist disgusted with the *' rebel cause," 
Hale felt that he could move among the 
various camps of the British with per- 
fect freedom and without the slightest 
danger of suspicion as to his mission or 
his rank in the army. He had changed 
from the full regimentals of a captain in 
the Continental army to the dress of 
a village schoolmaster, in velvet knick- 
erbockers with lace collar and cuff's 
and broad-brimmed felt hat. 

East River and the western end of 
Long Island Sound were crowded with 



THE MARTYR SPY. 67 

British cruisers of all sizes, but farther 
up the Sound where it is approximately 
twelve miles wide, it was thought to be 
entirely free from British surveillance; 
so Hale and his companions decided to 
make their way to Norwalk, keeping well 
back from the shore to avert suspicion, 
should they afterward be seen over on 
the Island. Without any mishap they 
reached Norwalk at about noon Septem- 
ber 16th. After fully explaining his pro- 
posed plans to Wright and Hempstead, 
Hale handed his military commission to 
Wright, together with other valuable 
papers, with instructions to give them to 
Captain Hull to be sent to Alice Adams 
should he not return. He then gave 
final directions to Hempstead to remain 
at Norwalk five days, or until September 
21st, and to send a boat for him early on 
the morning of that day to a point across 
the Sound indicated by the use of a 
.field glass. The spot where the parting 



68 

took place was just south of Norwalk on 
Wilson's Point, and some forty miles 
northeast of New York City in his native 
State, Connecticut. 

Authorities are at variance as to Hale's 
movements after he departed from Nor- 
walk on the night of September 16th ; but 
there is a unanimity of opinion as to his 
being taken across the Sound on the small 
coasting sloop Huntington, commanded 
by Captain Enoch Pond, and put ashore 
at Huntington Bay, not far from where 
the line separating Queens from Suffolk 
counties touches the Sound. 

The shore line of Long Island is very 
irregular, especially along the Sound. 
For a considerable distance back from 
the water's edge this unevenness is soft- 
ened by a dense growth of under- 
brush and dwarf timber; but the 
point designated by Hale as the most 
convenient and easy of approach by 
Hempstead, was a barren promontory 



THE MARTYR SPY. 69 

of about five hundred yards shore-line, 
and rising less than twenty-five feet 
above the waters of this sheltered inlet. 
About three o'clock on the morning of 
September 17th, he passed the tavern of 
Widow Kachel Chichester, called ''The 
Cedars," but fearing his disguise so re- 
cently assumed might not be complete, 
he did not stop at the tavern, but went 
on to the farmhouse of one William 
Johnson, three-quarters of a mile farther, 
where the road crosses a small stream 
called Cold Creek, or Spring Hun. Here 
he breakfasted and was given a bed, 
where he slept until two hours after sun- 
rise. Before seeking the British lines 
he questioned Johnson as to his chances 
of securing their district school or one in 
the immediate neighborhood. He learned 
from Johnson that Widow Chichester, or 
Mother Chick, as she was familiarly 
called, kept the tavern at **The Cedars," 
which was the resort, not only of all the 



70 

Tories in the vicinity, but of the British 
soldiers as well. 

After getting all the information he 
could with safety from Johnson, he made 
his way to the British camp, four miles 
south of *' The Cedars." Here he min- 
gled freely with the soldiers, learning lit- 
tle, however, of their movements, owing 
to the unsettled condition of Howe's 
plans. Tradition, as well as history, is 
silent as to Hale's movements for the 
next two or three days, but in the ab- 
sence of any positive information we 
infer that he moved rapidly among the 
British camps from *'The Cedars" to 
Brooklyn and back, securing the informa- 
tion so much desired by Washington. His 
risk — his watchfulness — his fatigue — 
his anxiety of mind — his suffering from 
cold — his loss of sleep — his bivouac by 
the rock, the fence, upon the tree or in the 
ditch — his stealthy noting of posts, situ- 
ations, numbers, plans, by the glare of 



THE MARTYR SPY. 71 

day, or by the dim moonlight or flicker- 
ing lantern — his eluding of patrols and 
guards — his conciliation of camps — all 
these, the particulars of that vital quest 
in which Hale was engaged, we are left, 
says one authority, in the dearth of any 
memorials, to conjecture. 

By this time Hale felt perfectly se- 
cure in his disguise and did not hesitate 
to go and come at will wherever his in- 
clination suggested . He knew that * * The 
Cedars" was the rendezvous of the Brit- 
ish officers, and that all matters of import- 
ance would likely be discussed there; so 
on the night of September 20th he went 
boldly to the tavern, which he had here- 
tofore avoided, to secure lodging and 
breakfast. The evening was spent in 
noisy carousal by the soldiers, and much 
valuable information must have been 
disclosed, interspersed with profane 
stories and vulgar songs by the drunken 
officers, for it was known that orders 



72 NATHAN HALE, 

had been given to**break camp and start 
for New York City" the following day. 
This information was carefully noted by 
Hale who, while he mingled with the 
officers, refused to drink, or to partici- 
pate in their drunken toasts to King 
George. 

It has been asserted, but without any 
positive proof, that a cousin by the name 
of William Hale, a rival for the hand of 
Alice Adams, and a staunch British 
sympathizer, was at the tavern that 
night and revealed the identity and evi- 
dent purpose of Nathan Hale to the Brit- 
ish. Whatever the facts may be, it is 
nevertheless true that he was not the 
direct cause of Hale's arrest and convic- 
tion, for on the morning of September 
21, 1776, after a night spent in company 
with a dozen drunken officers, Hale left 
the tavern one hour before dawn to look 
for the boat he had instructed Hemp- 
stead to have in readiness for him. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 73 

He reached in safety the point on the 
Sound where he had first landed and 
where he had directed that the boat 
should be sent for him. To his great joy 
he saw a boat with several men in it, 
moving toward the point designated as 
the place where he would be waiting to 
be conveyed back to Norwalk and to his 
companions who he knew awaited his 
coming with great anxiety, solicitous 
not only for his personal safety, but for 
the information he alone could reveal of 
the purposes of the enemy. 

Not doubting that it was the boat sent 
by Hempstead, who he expected would 
be the first to welcome him back to his 
companions, he hastened toward the 
beach; as the boat approached the 
shore, he was astonished at seeing a 
barge bearing a score or more of British 
marines. Seeing his error, he turned to 
escape, when a voice from the vessel 
called, ** Surrender or die !" Turning, he 



74 

saw a number of men with muskets 
leveled at him. Kealizing how futile it 
would be to attempt an escape, he 
meekly submitted to capture and was 
taken on board the vessel and conveyed 
to the British guardship Halifax, com- 
manded by Captain Quarne, which 
was anchored two miles east at Lloyd's 
Neck. 

As has been said, Captain Hale was an 
accomplished scholar, well versed in 
Latin, mathematics and mechanical 
drawing. He fitted all the requirements 
contained in Washington'' s call for a vol- 
unteer in respect to "unflinching cour- 
age, keen intellect, ready tact and a good 
draughtsman." During the four days 
spent among the British camps, he had 
procured much valuable information and 
had made many important drawings of 
the position and strength of fortifica- 
tions, arms and all munitions, accouter- 
ments, etc. He had taken the precau- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 75 

tion to wear inner soles in his shoes and 
beneath these he placed all the draw- 
ings with dimensions and descriptions in 
Latin and algebraic characters, exe- 
cuted on very thin paper. Satisfied 
that he was safe from detection, for he 
was a full league from the nearest Brit- 
ish post, it is natural to suppose that he 
was happy in the thought that his peril- 
ous mission would soon be ended and 
that he was about to render to his hon- 
ored commander-in-chief, Washington, 
and to his beloved country, the most val- 
uable service yet attempted by any man 
in the American army. It was with 
these thoughts uppermost in his mind as 
he made his way to the landing that he 
made the fatal , error of his heroic and 
almost successful mission. 

After his capture he was conveyed by 
the Halifax to New York City and taken 
to Howe's headquarters at Mount Pleas- 
ant, which was the elegant mansion of 



76 NATHAN HALE, 

Mr. James Beekman, on the East River, 
at the foot of the present Fifty-first 
Street, near First Avenue. Dr. Lossing, 
whom I have relied upon for informa- 
tion not easily obtainable from any other 
source, says: *In 1849 I made a sketch of 
the Beekman mansion, and of the green- 
house in 1852, a few days before it was 
demolished, with all the glories of the 
garden. At the order of the street com- 
missioner, streets were opened through 
the whole Beekman domain. The site of 
the greenhouse was in the center of what 
is now Fifty-second Street, a little east 
of First Avenue. It was erected in the 
spring of 1764. The mansion was occu- 
pied during the war as the headquarters 
of Generals Howe, Clinton and Robert- 
son. It was the residence of the Bruns- 
wick General Riedesel and his family in 
the summer of 1780. General Carleton 
occupied it in 1783." 
At the time of Hale's capture and con- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 77 

finement in the greenhouse, the estate 
was deserted by its staunch Whig owner 
— James Beekman. 

From the early descriptions given of 
the mansion and its surroundings it was 
unquestionably the linest estate in Amer- 
ica prior to the Kevolution. The green- 
house, that stood but a short distance 
from the dwelling, could not have been 
as ** loathsome" as might be inferred 
from the writings of some over-zealous 
chroniclers, yet Paradise would have 
seemed a place of torment with Cunning- 
ham in authority. 

Hale had been taken before Lord Howe 
late on the afternoon of Saturday, Sep- 
tember 21st. When questioned he frankly 
admitted his name, his rank in the army 
and his mission as a spy, said a British 
officer afterward who was present at the 
*'trial." He bitterly resented the accu- 
sation of being a traitor, and said that he 
had never looked upon King George as 



78 NATHAN HALE, 

his sovereign, nor England as having any 
authority over the colonies. He did ac- 
cept the brand of spy good-humoredly 
as he related his success in procuring 
valuable infonnation in the British 
camps. He expressed regret that he 
had not been successful in delivering his 
information to Washington, and that he 
had not served his country better. 

The additional evidence was the find- 
ing of the telltale papers in his shoes, 
which entitled him to a military trial ac- 
cording to the rules and usages of war. 
But this was denied him by Lord Howe, 
and he was immediately delivered into 
the custody of the infamous and brutal 
provost-marshal, William Cunningham. 
He was placed in the Beekman green- 
house under a strong guard *'for execu- 
tion at daybreak to-morrow." These 
were Howe's last words in the presence 
of Hale, but he gave detailed instruc- 
tions to Cunningham as to when and how 



THE MARTYR SPY 79 

the execution should be conducted, and 
urged that all precautions be taken to 
prevent his escape. 

General Howe, in the flush of his suc- 
cess, ignored the usages of war— to try 
men by court-martial before hanging 
them. So in the case of Nathan Hale, 
he decreed that the young patriot should 
die the death of a dog, without trial of 
any kind. Knowing the character of 
Cunningham, it was an unworthy, un- 
gracious and altogether inhuman act to 
place a fellow -being in the clutches of so 
fiendish a creature as the notorious Cun- 
ningham. We must accept with a certain 
amount of allowance the testimony of 
an eyewitness to the meeting between 
Captain Hale and General Howe, when 
he says: '*I observed that the frankness, 
the manly bearing and the evident, dis- 
interested patriotism of the handsome 
young prisoner sensibly touched a tender 
chord of General Howe's nature; but the 



80 NATHAN HALE, 

stern rules of war concerning such 
offences would not allow him to express 
even pity." Had Howe wished to inflict 
the worst torment possible he could not 
have devised anything more brutal than 
to have constituted himself judge and 
jury, and after listening to the prisoner's 
testimony, ordered him to be hanged be- 
fore sunrise. It is no wonder that his 
conscience troubled him in after years, 
for we are told that when he had returned 
to England, and after his retirement 
from the army, his thoughts often re- 
verted to scenes and events during the 
American Kevolution, but the hanging of 
Nathan Hale without trial or the conso- 
lations of a spiritual adviser brought sor- 
row and grief to his last days. 

Doomed as a spy — so young — so fair— 
With fettered limbs and bosom bare, 
He stood in the crisp autumn air 
Beneath the apple bough ; 



THE MARTYR SPY. 81 

While 'round with taunt and ribald jest, 
The British redcoats, gloating, pressed. 
But heaven's bright sunshine crowned 
and kissed 
His calm, unruffled brow. 

With patriot spirit kindling high, 
And proud defiance in his eye, 
To jibe and jeer he makes reply — ■ 

(Such words forever live:) 
**My sole regret as here I stand. 
And wait the hangman's shameful hand, 
Is that for my dear native land 

I've but one life to give." 

The deed is done; his soul hath flown; 
And lo! o'er Freedom's mountain throne 
Another star in luster shone 

Adown the groves of time; 
To cheer for aye the brave of heart, 
Who spurn oppression's cruel smart. 
And rise and rend their chains apart. 

In every race and clime. 



82 NATHAN HALE, 

And, oh, Columbia! mother mine- 
Long may thy shield be freedom's sign, 
Long may thy navies sweep the brine, 

Thine armies, hill and vale; 
And when the war drums loudly peal. 
Nor doubt nor danger can'st thou feel, 
Bulwari^ed around by hearts of steel 

Like that of Nathan Hale. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 83 



CHAPTER VI. 

**I REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE POOR LIFE 
TO LOSE FOR MY COUNTRY — IF I HAD 
TEN THOUSAND LIVES I WOULD LAY 
THEM DOWN, ONE AT A TIME, IN DE- 
FENSE OF MY INJURED, BLEEDING 
COUNTRY.*' 

At the same hour that Hale was lying 
in the greenhouse awaiting his doom, the 
lower part of the city was being de- 
voured by flames; a fitting punishment 
sent by Providence, the patriots thought, 
to deprive their cruel oppressors of any 
comforts the city might afford them dur- 
ing the long winter of 1776 and 1777. 
Four hundred and ninety-three houses 
were destroyed and fully one- third of 
the population of the city, numbering 



84 NATHAN HALE, 

over twenty thousand, mostly Tories and 
British soldiers, were left without shelter 
and sufficient food, with an early winter 
just setting in. 

The cause of the conflagration was at- 
tributed to the "rebel sympathizers," 
but subsequently it was found bo have 
started in a low tavern on the wharf, 
now occupied by the Staten Island Ferry. 
The open fields to the south and the 
wide sweeping lawns and high terraces 
about the old mansion acted as a barrier 
to the fire's progress; but the heated at- 
mosphere and dense smoke that reached 
the Beekman estate only irritated Cun- 
ningham the more and increased his 
hatred of Hale and his anxiety to hasten 
the execution. 

Kegardless of the fact that the morrow 
would be an autumn Sabbath in a Chris- 
tian land, and having had his attention 
called to the impropriety of hanging a 
**criminal" on the **Lord's Day," Howe 



THE MARTYR SPY. 85 

dismissed the matter by saying that 
the case was now in the hands of the 
provost marshal. There is an abun- 
dance of evidence to show the brutal 
character of every man in authority sent 
over by King George to force the Ameri- 
cans into submission, and the inhuman 
Cunningham was only a tool in the hands 
of his heartless master — Lord Howe. 

During the early morning hours, Hale 
requested the services of a minister, 
which were refused him. He then asked 
for a Bible, which was also denied him. 
Two hours later he asked permission to 
write to his mother and sweetheart, and 
this would also have been refused, had not 
a young British officer interfered and sug- 
gested that the letters, after inspection 
by the provost marshal, could be sent 
after Hale was executed. Being given a 
candle and the necessary writing mate- 
rials. Hale retired to send the last mes- 
sage to those he loved; for already the 



86 NATHAN HALE, 

eastern sky showed faint evidences of 
the coming day, and when the bright sun 
should rise, his troubles, his part in the 
nation's struggles would be over. 

One hour before sunrise the letters 
were handed Cunningham. Thinking 
they contained a further confession that 
would enable him to renew his persecu- 
tions, he hastily scanned their contents. 
When he observed the noble and patriotic 
spirit breathed in every word, every 
line, he grew furious and with his accus- 
tomed profane epithets, tore the letters 
into bits and stamped upon them before 
the victim of his wrath, announcing at 
the same time that the rebels should 
never know they had a man who could 
die with such firmness. Not one word 
of protest escaped the lips of Hale, who 
was resigned to his fate and seemed not 
to heed the insult or the impending scene 
that would witness the flight of his spirit 
from prison walls to the Elysian fields. 



THE MARTYR SPY, 87 

The place of execution has long been 
a subject of conjecture; some contend- 
ing that it took place on the Beekman 
estate near where Hale was confined; 
others that he was executed at the bar- 
racks near Chambers Street, now the 
Hall of Records in the City Hall Park 
where all state criminals were executed, 
but the generally accepted location was in 
Colonel Rutger's orchard, whose mansion 
stood near the present junction of Pike 
and Monroe Streets, just back from the 
East River and not more than a mile 
from the Beekman estate. 

The interview of Captain Wandell, as 
given in the opening chapter, would it 
seems, settle this much-mooted question, 
the importance of which is manifest, 
since the scene of his execution also 
fixes the location of his grave, now and 
for all time to come. Undisturbed for 
a century and a quarter, his mortal being 
now mingles with the soil for which he 



88 NATHAN HALE, 

gave himself a willing sacrifice, while the 
influence of his martyrdom will endure 
forever in the hearts of his countrymen. 

This testimony is further strengthened 
by Dr. Lossing who says: *'In 1849 I 
visited the venerable Jeremiah Johnson, 
ex-mayor of Brooklyn, who was living at 
his farmhouse not far from the navy 
yard, then between the city of Brook- 
lyn and the village of Williamsburg. 
Among other interesting facts concern- 
ing the Kevolution of his own experience 
and observation which he had treasured 
in his memory was that his father was 
present at the execution of Captain Hale. 
Like other Long Island farmers at that 
time, he went to New York occasionally 
with truck. On the day of the great 
fire, he was there, when himself and 
team were pressed into the service of 
the British. He was with the detach- 
ment on Colonel Eutger's farm at the 
time of the execution and saw the martyr 



THE MARTYR SPY 89 

hanged upon the limb of an apple tree in 
Colonel Rutger's orchard. It was at the 
west side, not far from the line of (the 
present" East Broadway." . 

Light was breaking in the east on that 
beautiful Sabbath morn of September 
22, 1776, when Nathan Hale was led out 
for execution. Even at so early an hour 
as 5 A.M. a large number of men and 
women were present to witness the sad 
scene. Cunningham was there to give 
orders and evidently enjoyed the situa- 
tion, for in a jocular and scoflSng way he 
demanded of his victim his *'last dying 
speech and confession.'* This did not 
call forth any resentful denunciation or 
emotional scene on the part of Hale. 
There on the threshold, on the border- 
land between life and death he stood be- 
neath the apple bough a willing sacrifice 
for the cause and land he loved so well. 
Hear his last words as he fixes his gaze 



90 NATHAN HALE, 

upon a multitude, among whom there was 
no friend to cheer him on his lonely jour- 
ney across the dark river: 

''Farewell: My only regret in dying is 
that I have hut one poor life to lose for my 
country. If I had ten thousand lives 1 would 
lay them down one at a time in defense of 
my injured, bleeding country.'^ 

These were some of the sentiments 
contained in Hale's letter to his mother; 
what more he might have said was cut 
short by the cruel halter, for before the 
last word fell on that agitated throng, 
the fiend Cunningham shouted, '* Swing 
him oflP!" 

Where is it recorded in history that 
ever man died with such firmness, such 
devotion, such love of country? Yet 
Nathan Hale never saw the flag of the 
nation he gave his life to save. 

The method employed at military ex- 
ecutions was either to place a ladder 
against the tree, force the prisoner to 



THE MARTYR SPY. 91 

ascend, place the rope about the neck. 
withdraw the ladder, leaving the victim 
suspended. Another way was to seat 
the condemned in a cart and after plac- 
ing the noose about his neck, drive off, 
leaving the victim to strangle. History 
is silent as to which method was em- 
ployed in the case of Captain Hale. Both 
seemed quite inhuman, for the victim is 
left to strangle in either method. We can 
be sure of one thing, however, and that is 
that Cunningham adopted the method 
that would produce the greatest amount 
of agony — prolonging the suffering for 
his own fiendish delight, and the 
gratification of a passion for witnessing 
human agony second only to the atro- 
cities attributed to the Aztec priests 
in the performance of their religious 
rites, or the horrible saturnalia of Rome 
under the Caesars. 

It is quite proper to introduce a brief 
sketch of the fiend in whose charge Na- 



92 NATHAN HALE, 

than Hale was placed, to see that Howe's 
orders were carried summarily into ex- 
ecution. Some authorities are averse to 
holding Howe responsible for the inhu- 
man treatment Hale received during the 
few hours of his confinement, seeking a 
pretext in the unproved assertion that 
Cunningham was employed directly by 
the British ministry and was independent 
of the authority of Howe. However that 
may have been, it is known that Hale's 
captors took him before Howe, who, with- 
out advice or council pronounced his sen- 
tence and handed the prisoner over to 
Cunningham for execution. Howe, asso- 
ciated with General Clmton, was com- 
mander of the British forces in North 
America, while Cunningham was provost 
marshal for New York and Philadelphia 
only, and must have acted under the 
instructions of his chief— Lord William 
Howe. 
Cunningham was described as a large, 



THE MARTYR SPY. 93 

burly, red-haired, red-faced Irishman, 
sixty years of age, excessively addicted 
to strong drink, and with most forbidding 
features. His cruelties and crimes com- 
mitted while in charge of prisoners of war 
in New York were notorious and mons- 
trous. Upon the scaffold in England, 
years after the war, he confessed that he 
had caused the death of fully two thou- 
sand prisoners under his charge, by star- 
vation and otherwise. At times he put 
poison into the food and again he sold 
their rations, all for his own benefit, 
allowing the prisoners to starve. 

A further account of Cunningham, one 
showing his low instincts and brutality, 
is given to illustrate the character of the 
men in authority who were striving to put 
down a rebellion which, if successful, 
meant our freedom and independence. 
** Wonted to sit in his quarters at the Pro- 
vost, opposite the guard room on the 
right, and to drink punch till his brain was 



94 NATHAN HALE, 

on fire — he would then stagger out into 
the corridors — followed often by his 
negro Richmond, the common hangman 
with coils of rope about his neck, and 
pouring forth volleys of tempestuous 
abuse on the wretched sufferers who hap- 
pened to be outside their cells, drive the 
'dogs,* as he called them, back to their 
*kennels,* the 'rebel spawn,' as he varied 
it, 'into their holes'— or vent his spite, 
as he passed up and down the hall by 
kicking over vessels of soup which the 
charitable sometimes placed there for 
poor and friendless captives— or clank- 
ing his keys, reel to the door of the 
prison, and strain his drunken gaze for 
fresh victims." 

The dreadful Weyler was moderate in 
his human sacrifices when compared 
with Cunningham, who is entitled to the 
distinction of being styled *'The Modern 
Nero. " We may derive some satisfaction 
from the story that his last years were 



THE MARTYR SPY. 95 

passed in constant fear of death — de- 
spised, hated and shunned by everybody. 
He was finally strangled to death for a 
murder committed years before — a fit- 
ting end for one of earth's vilest and 
most atrocious characters. 

Thus ended the life of the young pa- 
triot and martyr, Captain Nathan Hale. 
And while his brave mission resulted in 
failure so far as the objects he sought 
were concerned, he was successful in 
arousing the British to a realization of 
the fact that it was no easy task to con- 
quer a people who were striving to throw 
off the yoke of tyranny and oppression 
that had driven their Old-World ancestors 
to acts of desperation and kept all Europe 
in insurrection and revolution for a thou- 
sand years. The privations and dangers 
they encountered in the New World only 
whetted their ambition to build anew a 
republic that would permit neither idiotic 



96 NATHAN HALE, 

king nor debased soldiery to make their 
laws, nor to aid in their enforcement. It 
also showed the British that the patriot 
army, numbering nearly fourteen thou- 
sand, contained few men who would 
not sacrifice everything for the cause of 
liberty and independence. 

The death of Nathan Hale was a sad 
blow to all of his friends and acquaint- 
ances, but to none more especially than 
to Alice Adams, his betrothed. Her con- 
stant solicitude concerning his dangerous 
occupation, her devotion that became a 
part of her life and religion were almost 
as pathetic as his ignominious death and 
burial in an unknown grave. After Na- 
than's death she married Eleazer Eipley, 
who left her a widow in less than a year. 
Subsequently she married William Law- 
rence of Hartford, Connecticutt, where 
she lived until her death in September, 
1845. Her last words were, * 'Write to 
Nathan!" 



M 




^f 



I 



STATUE OF NATHAN HALE IN CITY HALL PARK, NEW YORK. 



THE MARTYR SPY, 97 

Shortly after Hale's death a ballad 
was written which was very popular 
during the remaining years of the war. 
It was altered slightly and again be- 
came popular during the second war with 
Great Britain in 1812. It was evidently 
written by one who was not well in- 
formed as to all the details concerning 
Hale's mission, capture and execution: 



The breezes went steadily through the 
tall pines, 
A-saying "Oh, hush!" a-saying **0h, 
hush!" 
As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse, 
For Hale's in the bush, for Hale's in 
the bush. 
**Keep still!" said the thrush, as she 
nestled her young 
In a nest by the road, in a nest by the 
road. 



98 NATHAN HALE, 

**For the tyrants are near, and with them 
appear 
What bodes ns no good, what bodes 
us no good." 

The brave captain heard it, and thought 
of his home, 
In a cot by the brook, in a cot by the 
brook. 
With mother and sister, and memories 
dear, 
He so gayly forsook, he so gayly for- 
sook. 



Cooling shades of the night were coming 
apace. 
The tattoo had beat, the tattoo had 
beat. 
The noble one sprang from his dark hid- 
ing-place, 
To make his retreat, to make his re- 
treat. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 99 

He wearily trod on the dry rustling 
leaves, 
As he passed through the wood, as he 
passed through the wood, 
And silently gained his rude launch on 
the shore. 
As she played with the flood, as she 
played with the flood. 

The guards of the camp, on that dark, 
dreary night. 
Had a murderous will, had a murder- 
ous will. 
They took him, and bore him afar from 
the shore, 
To a hut on the hill, to a hut on the 
hill. 

No mother was there, nor a friend who 
could cheer. 
In that little stone cell, in that little 
stone cell. 



100 NATHAN HALE, 

But he trusted in love from his Father 
above. 
In his heart all was well, in his heart 
all was well. 



An ominous owl, with his solemn bass 
voice, 
Sat moaning hard by, sat moaning 
hard by : 
"'The tyrant's proud minions must 
gladly rejoice, 
For he must soon die, for he must 
soon die." 



The brave fellow faced them, no thing 
he restrained, 
The cruel gen'ral, the cruel gen'ral: 
His errand from camp, of the ends to be 
gained, 
And said that was all, and said that 
was all. 



THE MARTYR SPY 101 

They took him, and bound him, and 
bore him away, 
Down the hill's grassy side, down the 
hill's grassy side. 
'Twas there the base hirelings in royal 
array 
His cause did deride, his cause did 
deride. 

Five minutes were given, short minutes, 

no more, 

For him to repent, for him to repent. 

He prayed for his mother, he asked not 

another. 

To heaven he went, to heaven he went. 

The faith of a martyr the tragedy 

showed. 
As he trod the last stage, as he trod the 

last stage. 
And Britons will shudder at gallai t 

Hale's blood. 
As his words do presage, as his 

words do presage. 



102 NATHAN HALE, 

Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's 
gloomy foe, 
Go frighten the slave, go frighten the 
slave ; 
Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they 
owe. 
No fears for the brave, no fears for the 
brave ! 



THE MARTYR SPY. 103 



CHAPTEK VII. 

"Ye come with hearts that oft have glowed 

At his soul-stirring tale, 
To wreath the deathless evergreen 

Around the name of HALE." 

The career of Nathan Hale has been 
compared with that of John Andre, a 
major in the British army. Both were 
young, both were spies and both were 
publicly executed for an offense not 
sanctioned by civilized nations. In char- 
acter, and the spirit in which they served 
their respective countries, they differed 
widely; Hale was a patriot of the high- 
est type, while Andre was an adventurer 
in the service of a tyrannical king. 

The occupation of a spy is honorable 
only when the service is performed un- 



104 NATHAN HALE, 

selfishly for one's country— without hope 
or expectation of personal reward of any 
kind; this was the case with Nathan 
Hale, whose last words on the scaffold 
were: **lf I had ten thousand lives I 
would lay them down, one at a time, in de- 
fense of my injured, bleeding country." 
The occupation of a spy, when the serv- 
ice is rendered with this spirit, is just as 
honorable as was the act of Washington 
when he left his camp fires burning at the 
battle of Trenton ,** to ^em^?e the enemy . " 

Contrast the last words of Major 
Andre, who said: **I request you, gentle- 
men, that you will bear me witness to the 
world, that I die like a brave man." He 
avowedly admitted that in the enterprise 
that resulted in his capture and execu- 
tion that he "sought military glory, the 
applause of his king and perhaps a brig- 
adiership should success crown his 
efforts as a spy." 

Howe had decreed that Hale should 



THE MARTYR SPY. 105 

*'diG like a dog" and his instructions 
were faithfully followed; for during the 
twenty-two hours of his imprisonment 
he was not given a particle of food and 
but two cups of water, which doubtless, 
Cunningham would have poisoned had he 
not believed that the halter was the 
surer and more humiliating method, and 
that in the present instance he was act- 
ing under instructions from Lord Howe. 
Andre, on the other hand, was shown 
every kindness, was provided with 
counsel, given every opportunity to prove 
his innocence, and was fed from Wash- 
ington's private table. Dr. Depew has 
given us a character-portrait of both 
Hale and Andre and his estimate of 
each. There is no doubt that Dr. Depew 
has expressed the sentiment of his coun- 
trymen as regards the character of these 
martyrs of the American Revolution, and 
this comparison of the two men is 
given in the final chapter of this book. 



106 NATHAN HALE, 

Although four generations have come 
and gone since the life drama of Nathan 
Hale was enacted, it is gratifying to 
know that men are awakening to a full 
sense of the importance of the mission of 
that young patriot and martyr. Public 
sentiment has been aroused and today 
the name of Hale stands forth as the 
bright and shining light during the dark 
days of the nation's struggle for in- 
dependence. No marble shaft nor 
modest stone marks the resting-place of 
the martyr, and for more than half a 
century after his death no effort was 
made to perpetuate his memory, in 
bronze or granite. Even the spot is un- 
known where sleeps this hero and martyr 
of the Eevolution. 

In destroying the life of the young 
patriot, the British sought to bury for- 
ever the name and deeds of Captain 
Hale, but in this they were unsuccessful, 
for on the 25th of November, 1837 — sixty- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 107 

one years and two months after Hale's 
death, twenty revolutionary soldiers, 
hale and hearty in their fourscore years, 
met at a banquet in Coventry, Connecti- 
cut, and formed the *'Hale Monument 
Association." Many efforts were made 
to induce Congress to make a suitable 
appropriation for so worthy a cause, but 
all efforts failed, notwithstanding atten- 
tion had been called to the honor Eng- 
land had shown Andre, by erecting a 
grand mausoleum over his remains in 
Westminster Abbey. 

**The Hale Monument Association" de- 
termined that their initial effort should 
not be in vain. For the purpose of 
securing funds, a series of festivals was 
determined upon, in the nature of church 
fairs, tea parties, public entertainments, 
private readings, and at all times * 'private 
contributions were gladly accepted." In 
these and in many other ways the people 
of Connecticut almost unconsciously 



108 NATHAN HALE, 

aided in raising a goodly sum. It was a 
strange way to raise money for a monu- 
ment, but desperate and heroic measures 
are sometimes necessary when other 
and more appropriate means are want- 
ing. At one of these fairs held in the 
Congregational Church at New Haven, 
December 10, 1839, a poem was ad- 
dressed to *'The Daughters of Freedom" 
and printed on white satin, which sold 
readily at fifty cents apiece. It con- 
tained the following verses : 

** Ye come with hearts that oft have glowed 
At his soul- stirring tale. 
To wreath the deathless evergreen 
Around the name of HALE, 

"Here his memorial stone shall rise 
In freedom's hallowed shade, 
Prouder than Andre's trophied tomb, 
'Mid mightiest monarchs laid." 

In 1845 the State of Connecticut ap- 



THE MARTYR SPY, 109 

propriated twelve hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, and this, together with the twenty- 
five hundred dollars contributed by the 
patriotic citizens of Coventry and vicin- 
ity and the sum raised by entertain- 
ments, gave the '*Hale Monument Asso- 
ciation" three thousand seven hundred 
and fifty dollars with which to erect a 
suitable monument which should be *'a 
substantial testimony to Hale's mem- 
ory." Henry Austin of New Haven de- 
signed the monument, which was con- 
structsd under the supervision of Solo- 
mon Willard, the architect of the Bunker 
Hill Monument. The Hale memorial at 
Coventry was unveiled in the summer of 
1846. It stands upon a pleasant eleva- 
tion near the old Congregational Church 
where Hale was baptized more than a 
half-century before. The beautiful 
Waugumbaug Lake, where Hale was 
wont to skate and fish when a boy, 
glistens in the distance. This column of 



110 NATHAN HALE, 

Quincy granite is forty-five feet high and 
fourteen and a half feet square at its 
base. Each side of the pedestal bears an 
inscription. On the north side facing 
Lake Waugumbaug is chiseled ; 

"Captain Nathan Hale.' 
On the west side: 

"Born at Conventry, June 6, 1755." 

On the east side: 

"Died at New York, September 33, 1776." 

On the south side: 

"I regret that I have but one life to lose for my coun- 
try." 

This was the first monument erected 
to the memory of Nathan Hale, though 
it must not be forgotten that, during the 
second war with Great Britain in 1812, a 
little fort that was erected during the 
Revolution at the entrance to New Haven 
harbor was named '*Fort Hale" in honor 
of the first martyr of the Revolution. 



THE MARTYR SPY. Ill 

In June, 1887, a magnificent life-size 
bronze statue of Hale was placed in the 
rotanda of the State Capitol at Hartford, 
Connecticut, at the expense of the State. 
This statue was the work of Karl Ger- 
hardt, and the presentation address was 
delivered by Charles Dudley Warner, 
with response and address of acceptance 
by Governor Phineas Lounsbury. 

There seemed to be great activity 
among the descendants of the Kevolu- 
tionary patriots at about this time to 
perpetuate the memory of the brave 
young martyr. Poems and brief sketches 
of the services he rendered Washington 
began to make their appearance, and on 
the 25th of November, 1893, just fifty- 
six years after the forming of the **Hale 
Monument Association" at Coventry, 
and one hundred and ten years after the 
evacuation of New York by the British, 
a magnificent bronze statue of heroic 
size was unveiled at the City Hall Park, 



112 NATHAN HALE, 

New York City, under the auspices of 
**The Sons of the Kevolution.'' Ten 
thousand people were present at the un- 
veiling of the statue which was executed 
by the sculptor, MacMonnies. A civil 
and military parade preceded the exer- 
cises. Many of the public buildings in 
New York and Brooklyn were draped in 
bunting; the cities put on their gala day 
attire, and amid the booming of cannon 
and songs that stirred the vast multi- 
tude, a monument befitting the name 
and deeds of the young martyr was un- 
veiled in the presence of many thousands, 
in the vicinity where he performed his 
daring mission and paid the penalty of 
his misfortune. 

Although few biographies of Captain 
Hale have appeared, yet his life has been 
rendered familiar to millions by numer- 
ous poetic effusions which have appeared 
at intervals during the passing cen- 
tury. The chief purpose of the author 




NATHAN HALE MONUMENT, SOUTH COVENTRY, CONN, 

Chiseled upon the monument are the following 
inscriptions : — 



Captain Nathan Hale, 

1776. 

Born at Coventry, 

June 6, 1755. 

Died at New York, 

Sept. 22, 1776. 

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for 
my country." 



THE MARTYR SPY. 113 

has been to gather each scrap of tribute 
to the memory of the brave youth, that 
future generations may know the spirit 
of the men who defied British power and 
arrogance at a time when her supremacy 
was unquestioned on both hemispheres. 
A short time after Hale's death a per- 
sonal friend of the martyr wrote a poem, 
too lengthy to be reproduced here, in 
which he described the personal appear- 
ance of Nathan Hale and his motives in 
becoming a spy. The name of the au- 
thor was not affixed to the original pro- 
duction, and consequently the author- 
ship of the following poetic tribute must 
forever remain unknown: 

Removed from envy, malice, pride and 

strife, 
He walked through goodness as he 

walked through life ; 
A kinder brother Nature never knew, 
A child more duteous or a friend more 

true. 



114 NATHAN HALE, 

Hate of oppression's arbitrary plan, 
The love of freedom and the rights of 

man; 
A strong desire to save from slavery's 

chain 
The future millions of the western main. 

Not Socrates nor noble Russell died, 
Or gentle Sidney, Britain's boast and 

pride. 
Or gen'rous Moore, approached life's 

final goal 
With more composed, more firm and 

stable soul. 

Dr. Timothy Dwight, who was one of 
Hale's tutors during the two years he 
spent at Yale College, said at his gradu- 
ation: **Yale has never graduated a 
more promising class." Then turning 
to Hale, he added, '* And to you, Mr. Hale, 
the youngest who ever went out from 
these classic halls, I predict a glorious 



THE MARTYR SPY. 115 

future and a subline mission in life." 
Though his future was brief it was 
indeed glorious. Could a prophecy have 
been more accurately foretold? 

In one of the catalogues of Yale Col- 
lege, issued during the presidency of that 
great and good man, Dr. Dwight, there 
appeared a brief tribute to Nathan Hale 
over the signature of one of Yale's most 
illustrious presidents. It is brief and 
runs: 

Thus while fond Virtue wished in vain to 

save, 
HALE, bright and generous, found a 

hapless grave; 
With genius' living flame his bosom 

glowed, 
And Science lured him to her sweet 

abode. 
In Worth's fair path his feet adventured 

far. 
The pride of peace, the rising hope of 

war; 



116 NATHAN HALE, 

In duty firm, in danger calm and even, 

To friends unchanging and sincere to 
Heaven. 

How short his course, the prize how early- 
won! 

While weeping Friendship mourns her 
favorite son. 



Mr. John S. Babcock, for many years 
a resident of Coventry, and a poet having 
more than a local reputation, wrote a 
touching tribute to Hale's memory, 
which appeared first in the papers of 
his native city. Mr. Babcock wrote in 
the strain of Charles Wolfe's *'The 
Burial of Sir John Moore." The 
rhythmic meter of that famous poem has 
been faithfully reproduced in these two 
stanzas: 

He fell in the spring of his early prime. 
With his fair hopes all around him ; 



THE MARTYR SPY. 117 

He died for his birth-land— a glorious 
crime. 
Ere the palm of his fame had crowned 
him. 

He fell in her darkness, he lived not to 
see 
The morn of her risen glory ; 
But the name of the brave, in the heart 
of the free, 
Shall be twined in her deathless story. 

Timothy D wight was an intimate friend 
of Hale and the year after the martyr's 
death he entered the Continental army 
as chaplain of the regiment to which 
Hale belonged. The following poem was 
written in 1777 and inscribed to Nathan 
Hale. It was first published in *'Ket- 
tell's Specimens," in 1829: 

To Nathan Hale: 



118 NATHAN HALE 

COLUMBIA. 

BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT. 

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, 
The queen of the world, and child of the 

skies; 
Thy genius commands thee, with rapture 

behold, 
While ages on ages thy splendor unfold ; 
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of 

time, 
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy 

clime; 
Let the crimes of the East ne*er encrim- 

son thy name, 
Be freedom and silence and virtue thy 

fame. 



To conquest and slaughter let Europe 

aspire ; 
Whelm nations in blood and wrap cities 

in fire; 



THE MARTYR SPY. 119 

Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall 
defend 

And triumph pursue them, and glory- 
attend, 

A world in thy realm : for a world be 
thy laws. 

Enlarged as thine empire and just as thy 
cause; 

On freedom's broad basis, that empire 
shall rise, 

Extend with the main, and dissolve with 
the skies. 

Fair science her gates to thy sons shall 
nbar. 

And the East see the morn hide the 
beams of her star. 

New bards and new sages, unrivalled 
shall soar 

To fame unextinguished, when time is 
no more; 

To thee, the last refuge of virtue de- 
signed, 



120 NATHAN HALE, 

Shall fly from all nations the best of 

mankind ; 
Here, grateful to heaven, with transport 

shall bring. 
Their incense, more fragrant than odors 

of Spring. 

Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory 
ascend, 

And genius and beauty in harmony 
blend ; 

The graces of form shall awake pure de- 
sire, 

And the charms of the soul ever cherish 
the fire ; 

Their sweetness unmingled, their man- 
ners refined. 

And virtue's bright image, instamped on 
the mind, 

With peace and soft rapture shall teach 
life to glow. 

And light up a smile in the aspect of woe. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 1^1 

Thy fleets to all regions, thy power shall 

display, 
The nations admire and the oceans obey; 
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold, 
And the East and the South yield their 

spices and gold. 
As the day-spring unbounded, thy 

splendor shall flow. 
And earth's little kingdoms before thee 

shall bow ; 
While the ensigns of union, in triumph 

unfurled, 
Hush the tumult of war and give peace 

to the world. 

Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars 
o'erspread. 

From war's dread confusion I pensively 
strayed. 

The gloom from the face of fair heaven 
retired ; 

The winds ceased to murmur; the thun- 
ders expired ; 



122 NATHAN HALE, 

Perfumes of Eden flowed sweetly along, 
And a voice as of angels, enchantingiy 

sung: 
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 
The queen of the world, and the child of 

the skies. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 123 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CONCLUSION — EULOGIUMS. 

Andre's story is the one overmaster- 
ing romance of the Revolution, Ameri- 
can and English literature is full of elo- 
quence and poetry in tribute to his 
memory and sympathy for his fate. 
After the lapse of a hundred years there 
is no abatement of absorbing interest. 
What had this young man done to merit 
immortality? The mission, whose tragic 
issue lifted him out of the oblivion of 
other minor British officers, in its incep- 
tion was free from peril or daring, and 
its objects and purposes were utterly in- 
famous. Had he succeeded by the dese- 
cration of the honorable uses of passes 
and flags of truce, his name would have 



124 NATHAN HALE, 

been held in everlasting execration. In 
his failure, the infant Republic escaped 
the dagger with which he was feeling for 
its heart, and the crime was drowned in 
tears for his untimely end. His youth 
and beauty, his skill with pen and pencil, 
the brightness of his life, the calm cour- 
age in the gloom of his death, his early 
love and disappointment, surrounded 
him with a halo of poetry and pity which 
secured for him what he most sought 
and could never have won in battle and 
sieges — a fame and recognition which 
have outlived that of all the generals 
under whom he served. 

Are kings only grateful, and do re- 
publics forget? Is fame a travesty, and 
the judgment of mankind a farce? 
America had a parallel case in Captain 
Nathan Hale. Of the same age as 
Andre, he graduated at Yale College 
with high honors, enlisted in the patriot 
cause at the beginning of the contest, 



THE MARTYR SPY. 125 

and secured the love and confidence of 
all about him. When none else would 
go upon a most important and perilous 
mission he volunteered, and was cap- 
tured by the British. While Andre re- 
ceived every kindness, courtesy and at- 
tention, and was fed from Washington's 
table. Hale was thrust into a noisome 
dungeon in the sugar bouse. While 
Andre was tried by a board of ofiicers 
and had ample time and every facility 
for defense, Hale was summarily ordered 
to execution the next morning. While 
Andre's last wishes and behests were 
sacredly followed, the infamous Cunning- 
ham tore from Hale his cherished Bible 
and destroyed before his eyes his last 
letters to his mother and sisters, and 
asked him what he had to say. *'A11 I 
have to say," was his reply, **is, I regret 
I have but one life to lose for my coun- 
try." His death was concealed for 
months because Cunningham said he did 



126 NATHAN HALE, 

not want the rebels to know they had a 
man who could die so bravely. And yet 
while Andre rests in that grandest of 
mausoleums, where the proudest of 
nations garners the remains and perpetu- 
ates the memories of its most eminent 
and honored children, the name and 
deeds of Nathan Hale have passed into 
oblivion. 

This tribute from one of America's 
foremost orators, Chauncey M. Depew, is 
striking in its brevity and well-chosen 
words. The address was delivered by 
Dr. Depew nearly twenty years ago, and 
like that of Mr. Eaymond and the 
poetic tribute of Isaac Hinton Brown, 
had much to do with the revival of in- 
terest in the name and deeds of the 
young martyr, and made the unveiling 
of two monuments to his memory a 
nation's rejoicing. 

At an early stage of the Kevolution, 
Nathan Hale, captain in the American 



THE MARTYR SPY. 127 

army, which he had entered, abandoning 
brilliant prospects of professional dis- 
tinction for the sole purpose of defend- 
ing the liberties of his country — gifted, 
educated, ambitious — the equal of Andre 
in talent, in worth, in amiable manners, 
and in every manly quality, and his 
superior in that final test of character— 
the motives by which his acts were 
prompted and his life was guided — laid 
aside every consideration personal to 
himself and entered upon a service of 
infinite hazard to life and honor, because 
Washington deemed it important to the 
sacred cause to which both had been 
sacredly set apart. Like Andre, he was 
found in the hostile camp; like him, 
though without trial, he was adjudged 
as a spy; and, like him, he was con- 
demned to death. 

And here the likeness ends. No con- 
soling word, no pitying or respectful 
look, cheered the dark hours of his 



128 NATHAN HALE, 

doom. He was met with insult at every 
turn. The sacred consolations of the 
minister of God were denied him ; the 
Bible was taken from him ; with an ex- 
cess of barbarity hard to be paralleled in 
civilized war, his dying letters of fare- 
well to his mother and sisters were de- 
stroyed in his presence; and uncheered 
by sympathy, mocked by brutal power, 
and attended only by that sense of duty, 
incorruptible, undefiled, which had ruled 
his life — finding a fit farewell in the 
serene and sublime regret that he had 
but one life to lose for his country — he 
went forth to meet the great darkness of 
an ignominious death. 

The loving hearts of his early com- 
panions have erected a neat monument 
to his memory in his native town; but, 
beyond that little circle, where stands 
his name recorded? While the majesty 
of England, in the person of her sover- 
eign, sent an embassy across the sea to 



THE MARTYR SPY. 129 

solicit the remains of Andre at the hands 
of his foes, that they might be enshrined 
in that sepulcher where she garners the 
relics of her mighty and renowned sons— 
**Splendid in their ashes, pompous in the 
grave," the children of Washington have 
left the body of Nathan Hale to sleep in 
its unknown tomb, though it be on his 
native soil, unhonored by any outward 
observance, unmarked by any memorial 
stone. Monody, eulogy, monument of 
marble or of brass and of letters more en- 
during than all, have in his own land and 
in oars given the name and fate of Andre 
to the sorrowing remembrance of all 
time to come. American genius has 
celebrated his praises, has sung his vir- 
tues, and exalted to heroic heights his 
prayer, manly, but personal to himself, 
for choice in the manner of death — his 
dying challenge to all men to witness the 
courage with which he met his fate. 
But where, save on the cold page of his- 



130 NATHAN HALE, 

tory, stands the record of Captain Nathan 
Hale? Where is the hymn that speaks 
to immortality, and tells of the added 
brightness and enhanced glory when his 
soul joined its noble host? And where 
sleeps the American of Americans that 
their hearts are not stirred to solemn 
means of rapture at the thought of the 
sublime love of country which buoyed 
him not alone above the fear of death, but 
far beyond all thought of himself, of his 
fate and his fame, or of anything less 
than his country — and which shaped his 
dying breath into the sacred sentence 
which trembled at the last upon his 
quivering lip? 

These eloquent words had a deeper 
significance when they were uttered by 
Mr. Raymond more than half a century 
ago than they have today, for the 
patriotic spirit that runs high in the 
breast of every American has arisen to 
the occasion and necessity of recogniz- 



THE MARTYR SPY. 131 

ing the services Nathan Hale rendered 
the *' Father of His Country/' 

It is a just reproach to a nation of 
nearly sixty million freemen, rich and 
powerful beyond any other people on 
the globe, that the memory of Nathan 
Hale, their self-sacrificing benefactor in 
purpose, and a true and noble martyr in 
the cause of the liberty they enjoy, has 
been, until lately, absolutely neglected 
by them; that no monody, eulogy, mon- 
ument of marble or of brass, dedicated to 
him by the public voice, appears any- 
where in our broad land. Let the con- 
science of our people, inspired by grati- 
tude and patriotism, be fairly awakened 
to the propriety of the undertaking, and 
the funds will speedily be forthcoming 
sufficient to erect a magnificent monu- 
ment in memory of Nathan Hale in the 
city where he died for his country. I 
recommended, as a portion of the in- 
scription upon the monument, the sub- 



132 NATHAN HALE, 

joined epitaph, written fully thirty years 
ago by George Gibbs, the ripe scholar 
and antiquary, who was at one time the 
librarian of the New York Historical 
Society : 

Stranger, Beneath this Stone 

Lies the Dust of 

a Spy 

Who Perished Upon the Gibbet; 

Yet 
The Storied Marbles of the Great 

Tfie Shrines of Heroes, 

Entombed not one more Worthy of 

Honor 

Than him who here 

Sleeps his last sleep. 

Nations 

Bow with Reverence before the Dust 

Of him who dies 

A glorious death. 

Urged on by the Sound of the 

Trumpet 

And the shouts of 

Admiring thousands. 

But what Reverence, what honor ^ 

Is not due to one 

Who for his country ericountered 

Even an infamous death, 

Soothed by no sympathy, 

Animated by no praise! 

—Benson J. Lossing. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 133 

Washington Irving, in his **Life of 
George Washington," recites an interest- 
ing story of the capture of Andre by 
Major Tallmadge near Tappan, where 
Tallmadge informs the British spy, when 
questioned as to his probable fate, that it 
will be similar to that of the American 
spy. Captain Nathan Hale— seven years 
before. 

After disembarking at King's Ferry 
near Stony Point, they set off for Tappan 
under escort of a body of horse. As 
they approached the Clove, a deep defile 
in the rear of the Highlands, Andre, 
who rode beside Tallmadge, became so- 
licitous to know the opinion of the lat- 
ter as to what would be the result of his 
capture, and in what light he would be 
regarded by General Washington and by 
a military tribunal, should one be 
ordered. Tallmadge evaded the ques- 
tion as long as possible, but being urged 
to a full and explicit reply, gave it, he 
Bays, in the following words; 



134 NATHAN HALE, 

*'I had a much-loved classmate in Yale 
College, by the name of Nathan Hale, 
who entered the army in 1775. Imme- 
diately after the battle of Long Island, 
General Washington wanted information 
respecting the strength, position and 
probable movements of the enemy. 
Captain Hale tendered his services, went 
over to Brooklyn and was taken, just as 
he was passing the outposts of the enemy 
on his return ; said I with emphasis — do 
you remember the sequel of the story? 
*Yes,' said Andre. *He was hanged as a 
spy. But you surely do not consider his 
case and mine alike?* 'Yes, precisely 
similar, and similar will be your fate.' " 

Here Washington Irving recites the 
brief story of Nathan Hale and his un- 
successful mission. It is in brief what 
this book aims to give in detail. The 
story of Nathan Hale cannot be too 
often told, for it is the best illustration 
we have of the character of the men we 



THE MARTYR SPY. 135 

owe a debt that neither this nor all 
future generations can hope to repay. 

In comparing the mission of the two 
men — Andre and Hale— the fate of each, 
and the action England took with regard 
to the remains and memory of Andre, 
Henry Cabot Lodge says: 

"Andre was a spy and briber, who 
sought to ruin the American cause by 
the treachery of an American general. 
It was a dark and dangerous game, and 
he knew that he staked his life on the 
result. He failed, and paid the penalty. 
Washington could not permit, he would 
have been grossly and feebly culpable if 
he had permitted such an attempt to 
pass without extreme punishment. He 
was generous and magnanimous, but he 
was not a sentimentalist, and he punished 
this miserable treason, so far as he 
could reach it, as it deserved. It is true 
that Andre was a man of talent, well- 
bred and courageous, and of engaging 



136 NATHAN HALE, 

manners. He deserved all the sympathy 
and sorrow which he excited at the time, 
but nothing more. He was not only 
technically a spy, but he had sought his 
ends by bribery, he had prostituted a 
flag of truce, and he was to be richly 
paid for his work. It was all hire and 
salary. No doubt Andre was patriotic 
and loyal. Many spies have been the 
same, and have engaged in their danger- 
ous exploits from the highest motives. 
Nathan Hale, whom the British hanged 
without compunction, was as well-born 
and well-bred as Andre, and as patriotic 
as man could be, and moreover he was a 
spy and nothing more. Andre was a 
trafficker in bribes and treachery, and 
however we may pity his fate, his name 
has no proper place in the great temple 
at Westminster, where all English- 
speaking people bow with reverence, 
and only a most perverted sentimentality 
could conceive that it was fitting to erect 



THE MARTYR SPY. 137 

a monument to his memory in this 
country." 

NATHAN HALE, THE MAETYK SPY. 

'Twas in the year that gave the nation 
birth— 

A time when men esteemed the common 
good 

As greater weal than private gain. A 
battle fierce 

And obstinate had laid a thousand pat- 
riots low, 

And filled the people's hearts with gloom. 

Pursued like hunted deer, 
The crippled army fled; and, yet, amid 
Disaster and defeat, the nation's chosen 

chief 
Resolved his losses to retrieve. But not 
With armies disciplined and trained by 

years 
Of martial service, could he, this Fabian 

chief, 



138 NATHAN HALE, 

Now hope to check the hosts of Howe's 

victorious legions — 
These had he not. 



In stratagem the shrewder general 
Ofttimes o'ercomes his strong antag- 
onist. 
To Washingon a knowledge of the plans, 
Position, strength of England's force 
Must compensate for lack of numbers. 

He casts about for one who'd take his 

life 
In hand. Lo ! he stands before the chief. 

In face, 
A boy — in form, a man on whom the eye 

could rest 
In search of God's perfected handiwork. 
In culture, grace and speech, reflecting 

all 
A mother's love could lavish on an only 

son. 



THE MARTYR SPY. 139 

The chieftain's keen discerning eye 
Appraised the youth at his full worth, 

and saw 
In him those blending qualities that make 
The hero and the sage. He fain would 

save 
For nobler deeds a man whose presence 

marked 
A spirit born to lead. 

"Young man," he said with kindly air, 

**Your country and commander feel 
grateful that 

Such talents are offered in this darkening 
hour. 

Have you in reachmg this resolve, con- 
sidered well 

Your fitness, courage, strength — the act, 
the risk 

You undertake? Have you, in that fine 
balance, which 

Detects an atom on either beam, weighed 
well 



140 NATHAN HALE, 

Your chances of escape 'gainst certain 

fate 
Should capture follow in the British 

camp?" 



In tones of fitting modesty that well 
Became his years, the patriot answered 

thus: 
**My country's honor, safety, life, it ever 

was 
My highest purpose to defend: that 

country's foes 
Exultant sweep through ruined land and 

home 
And field. A thousand stricken hearts 

bewail 
The loss of those who late our standards 

bore 
Appeals to us through weeping eyes 

whose tears 
We cannot brush away with words. The 

ranks 



THE MARTYR SPY. 141 

Of those now cold in death are not re- 
placed 
By living men. The hour demands a 

duty rare — 
Perhaps a sacrifice. If God and training in 
The schools have given me capacities 
This duty to perform, the danger of the 

enterprise 
Should not deter me from the act 
Whose issue makes our country free. In 

times 
Like these a nation's life sometimes upon 
A single life depends. If mine be deemed 
A fitting sacrifice, God grant a quick 
Deliverance." 

**Enough, go then, at once," the great 
Commander said. *'May heaven's guard- 
ian angel give 
You safe return. Adieu." 

Disguised with care, the hopeful cap- 
tain crossed 



142 NATHAN HALE, 

The Sound, and moved through British 
camp 

Without discovery by troops or refugees. 

The enemy's full strength, in men, in 
stores, 

Munitions, guns— all military accoutre- 
ments 

Were noted with exact precision ; while 

With graphic sketch, each trench and 
parapet, 

Casemated battery, magazine and every 
point 

Strategic, was drawn with artist's skill. 

The task complete, the spy with heart 
Elate, now sought an exit through the 

lines. 
Well might he feel a soldier's pride. An 

hour hence 
A waiting boat would bear him to his 

friends. 
His plans he'd lay before his honored 

chief; 



^ 



THE MARTYR SPY. 143 

His single hand might turn the tiae of 

war, 
His country yet be free. 

*'Halt!" a British musket leveled at 
His head dimmed all the visions of his 

soul. 
A dash — an aimless shot; the spy bore 

down 
Upon the picket with a blow that else 
Had freed him from his clutch, but for a 

score 
Of troopers stationed near. In vain he 

struggles fierce 
And desperate— in vain demands to be 

released. 
A Tory relative, for safety quartered in 
The British camp, would prove his 

truckling loyalty 
With kinsman's blood. A word — a look — 
A motion of the head, and he who'd 

dared 



144 NATHAN HALE, 

So much in freedom's name was free no 
more. 

Oh, Judas, self condemned! thou art 
But the type of many a trait'rous friend. 
Who ere and since thy time betrayed to 

death 
A noble heart, jjenceforth be doubly 

doomed — 
A base example to earth's weaker souls. 

Before Lord Howe the captive youth 
Was led. '*Base dog!" the haughty 

general said, 
'*Ignoble son of loyal sires! you've 

played the spy 
Quite well, I ween. The cunning skill 

wherewith 
You wrought these plans and charts 

might well adorn 
An honest man; but in a rebel's hands 

they're vile 
And mischievous. If aught may palliate 



THE MARTYR SPY. 145 

A traitor's act, attempted in his sover- 
eign's camp, 

I bid you speak ere I pronounce your 
sentence." 

With tone and mien that hushed 
The buzzing noise of idle lackeys in the 

hall, 
The patriot thus replied: **You know 

my name — 
My rank— my treacherous kinsman made 
My purpose plain. I've nothing further 

of myself 
To tell beyond the charge of traitor to 

deny. 
The brand of spy I do accept without re- 
proach ; 
But never since I've known the base in- 
gratitude 
Of king to loyal subjects of his realm 
Has British rule been aught to me than 
barbarous 



14:6 NATHAN HALE, 

Despotism which God and man abhor, 

and none 
But dastards fear to overthrow. 



**For tyrant royalty your lordship 

represents 
I never breathed a loyal breath ; and he 
Who calls me traitor seeks a pretext for 

a crime 
His trembling soul might well condemn. " 



**ril hear no more such prating cant," 
Said Howe, **your crime's enough to 

hang a dozen men. 
Before tomorrow's sun comes up you'll 

swing 
'Twixt earth and heaven, that your 

countrymen 
May know a British camp is dangerous 

ground 
For prowling spies. Away." 



THE MARTYR SPY. 147 

In loathsome cell, derived 
Of holy sacrament, and e'en the word of 

Him 
Who cheered the thief upon the cross — 

refused 
The means wherewith he would indite 

his last 
Farewell to her who gave him life. 
And to another whose young heart 
The morrow's work would shade in 

gloom, 
He passed the night in charge of one 

who Satan had 
Commissioned hell's sharpest torments 

to inflict. 



Securely bound upon a cart, amid 
A speechless crowd, he stands beneath a 

strong 
Projecting limb, to which a rope with 

noose attached 



148 NATHAN HALE, 

Portends a tragic scene. He casts his 

eyes 
Upon the surging multitude. Clearly 

now 
His tones ring out as victors shout in 

triumph : 



"Men, I do not die in vain, 

My humble death upon this tree will 
light anew 

The Torch of Liberty. A hundred hands 
to one 

Before will strike for country, home and 
God, 

And fill our ranks with men of faith in 
His 

Eternal plan to make this people free. 

A million prayers go up this day to free 

The land from blighting curse of tyrant's 
rule. 

Oppression's wrongs have reached Je- 
hovah's throne: 



THE MARTYR SPY. 149 

The God of vengeance smites the foe ! 

This land — 
This glorious land— is free — is free! 
My friends, farewell! In dying thus 
I feel but one regret; it is the one poor 

life 
I have to give in Freedom's cause." 

—Isaac Hinton Bkown. 



THE END. 



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